Today’s readings: Jeremiah 19-21, Psalm 63.
Jeremiah 20:7-14
O LORD, you have deceived me,
and I was deceived;
you are stronger than I,
and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all the day;
everyone mocks me.
8 For whenever I speak, I cry out,
I shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the LORD has become for me
a reproach and derision all day long.
9 If I say, “I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name,”
there is in my heart as it were a burning fire
shut up in my bones,
and I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
10 For I hear many whispering.
Terror is on every side!
“Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
say all my close friends,
watching for my fall.
“Perhaps he will be deceived;
then we can overcome him
and take our revenge on him.”
11 But the LORD is with me as a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble;
they will not overcome me.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonor
will never be forgotten.
12 O LORD of hosts, who tests the righteous,
who sees the heart and the mind,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.
13 Sing to the LORD;
praise the LORD!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.
14 Cursed be the day
on which I was born!
The day when my mother bore me,
let it not be blessed!
I want to ask, “When is enough enough, God?” I suspect Jeremiah had the same question. I’m sure he wanted to say, “I surrender!” Yet Jeremiah isn’t even the target of the LORD’s accusations against Judah. He’s only the messenger. But that doesn’t exempt him from trouble and suffering.
You might even wonder whether Jeremiah was bringing some of it on himself. After Pashhur had him beaten and put in the stocks for a day, we read, “The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, ‘The LORD does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side.’” (Jeremiah 20:3). It almost sounds like he’s poking the bear, as they say.
But Jeremiah isn’t speaking out of spite. He is carrying out the commission God gave him. He cannot help but proclaim what the LORD has placed within him.
If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. (Jeremiah 20:9)
Years ago, I had to prepare for a possible deposition. Although I wasn’t a party to the lawsuit, I was likely to be called as a witness. The attorney preparing me fired one question after another: Did you say this? Did you do that? Were you aware that…? What did you do next? Every answer seemed to lead to another question. Before long, I felt less like a witness and more like the defendant. And this was the attorney who was on my side.
That attorney wasn’t interested in what was in my heart. He wanted to know whether there were any ticking time bombs that might be exposed in court.
But God was probing the people of Judah because he was concerned with their hearts. He wasn’t interested merely in cataloging their outward sins. He was exposing the inward disease that produced them. Layer by layer, he peeled away their duplicity, injustice, ungodliness, and faithlessness to reveal the real problem: their hearts were corrupt. They needed new hearts. They needed renewed minds. They needed faith. And the path to that new life would begin with broken hearts.
As Jeremiah carries the burden of exposing the hearts of God’s people, he reaches his own breaking point. He bursts into a poetic lament unlike anything else in the book. One moment he is overwhelmed with despair; the next he is praising the LORD. One moment he wishes he had never been born; the next he declares God’s faithfulness.
That emotional whiplash can be unsettling, but it is also wonderfully honest. God is worthy of our praise even in those moments when life seems unbearable—even when we wish, like Jeremiah, that we had never been born. Thankfully, God did not remain distant from our suffering. Jeremiah wished he had never entered the world. Jesus willingly entered the world knowing exactly what awaited him. He came to bear our sin, carry our grief, and secure for us an eternal future filled with hope—a hope Jeremiah himself will proclaim in chapter 29.
We never have to pretend everything is fine when it isn’t. But neither do we have to surrender to despair when faithfulness is met with opposition and hardship. The God who knows our hearts also knows our need. That is why he sent our Redeemer. He welcomes repentant sinners, binds up the brokenhearted, and gives new hearts to those who trust in him.
Follow the Word is a daily Bible reading and devotional ministry of St. John Lutheran Church, Cypress, Texas.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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