The Job We Don't Want

I've been reading Jeremiah for the past week or so. I've got to tell you, its tough. It is some heavy, heavy stuff. It's kind of like watching a horror movie, and seeing that young woman, who you know is about to get whacked, walking slowly toward the strange sound she heard in the other room.

You want to scream out, "Stop! Don't do that! Turn around! Run!" And you might even. Scream, I mean. But it wouldn't do any good. That foolish girl is going to get it, and all you can do is watch in horror.

That is what I feel like while I'm reading Jeremiah. Those foolish Israelites are headed straight toward death and destruction, and they refuse to turn around. Poor Jeremiah is the prophet who is chosen to give them warning after warning about what is coming their way. But do they listen to him? Nope. They abuse him, they mock him, they beat him and imprison him.


This is not a man who came bearing popular news. But you know what? He came bearing the truth. And the truth was going to be told, whether the Israelites wanted to hear it or not. (They didn't, believe me.)

In Jeremiah 20:9, Jeremiah decides that he has had enough. He is tired of being mocked and abused, and he is just going to quit all this prophesying that has gotten him in so much trouble with his peers. Here is Jeremiah speaking in first person:

"Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name."
But His word was in my heart like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And I could not.

I love that. God's Word was like a burning fire in his bones, and he couldn't keep it inside. He had to just get it out, not matter the cost.

Just a few verses later, Jeremiah indulges in a major pity party. Not that I blame him at all, it's hard to imagine feeling happy and joyful about such extreme persecution. But listen to the depth of his anguish in 20:14-18:

"Cursed be the day in which I was born!
Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me!
Let the man be cursed
Who brought news to my father, saying,
"A male child has been born to you!"
Making him very glad.
And let that man be like the cities
Which the LORD overthrew, and did not relent;
Let him hear the cry in the morning
And the shouting at noon,
Because he did not kill me from the womb,
That my mother might have been my grave,
And her womb always enlarged with me.
Why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow,
That my days should be consumed with shame?"

Was the cause of his great pain some kind of sin he committed? No, his pain came as a direct result of being a faithful servant of the LORD. That is probably a foreign thought to most of us. We usually imagine that being a great servant of the LORD is the kind of job that involves lots of glory, miracles, maybe even a book deal and a speaking gig. But that is not always true. In fact, its probably not even true most of the time.

Oh, don't get me wrong. It is the greatest privilege in this life to be called to serve God. And God always makes provision for us in whatever circumstances He gives us. Just don't make the mistake of thinking that serving God is always a bed of roses. The history of our religion is full of people who have endured severe persecution in order to serve God. Our current state of religious freedom is a historical anomaly, and even now there are millions of Christians who endure real persecution for their beliefs.

Poor Jeremiah. He had a rough job. But it turned out OK for him in the end. The LORD personally reassures Jeremiah in 15:21:

"I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible."

According to the study notes in my Bible, when all of Jeremiah's prophecies came true and Israel was decimated by Babylon, the Babylonian commander had a special order to take care of Jeremiah. Apparently his prophecies had spread far and wide and Nebuchadnezzar felt kindly toward the rebel prophet who kept telling Jerusalem that Babylon was going to win.

Hundreds of years later, Jesus told us, "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

I bet Jeremiah is due for an amazing reward come Judgment Day.