This article about Jeremiah, is one of a series of articles built around the theme, “What would they say to us now?” From the perspective of eternity and a completed life, what would they say is really important to us today?
Has God ever asked you to do something you didn’t want to do or didn’t feel comfortable doing? Have you ever felt your ministry lacked impact and was not accomplishing anything of lasting value?
Jeremiah struggled with the hardships of ministry for 42 years. Not once did he see an encouraging response. Not once was there an indication that his preaching was stopping Judah’s slide towards destruction. His whole ministry was like he was banging his head against a wall.
Yet when it was over, Jeremiah left a great legacy. There was a record of God’s greatness and control over history. There was prophecy that inspired the Jewish exiles to return home from captivity.
At some time, every person who diligently seeks to serve God will end up in a Jeremiah situation. There will be problems you can’t solve, predicaments you can’t understand and frustrations that baffle you. You see no results of eternal value. Welcome to Jeremiah’s world.
JEREMIAH
Jeremiah was called to serve under disturbing circumstances. The people of northern Israel had been taken captive 100 years earlier. In Jerusalem, there was crime in the streets, corruption in the palace, homosexuals roaming the temple and children being offered as sacrifices.
This was the Lord’s instruction to Jeremiah. Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city. (Jeremiah 5:10).
God had had his eye on Jeremiah before he was born. And when Jeremiah complained that he didn’t know how to speak, God said, Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you. (Jeremiah 1:8).
Jeremiah had a difficult time when he started preaching. At first he received yawns and blank stares from people. People ignored him; certainly there was no repentance. He must have thought, “This was not how the ministry is supposed to turn out. The Spirit’s power is supposed to make me soar, but I’m not soaring.” He felt the rejection and the resistance to his message. He felt like bailing out, but he carried on.
God told him to go to the potter’s house, so he went, and watched. While the potter was working, the clay went bad, so the potter mushed it up and made a less beautiful pot. God then told him to take the lesson to the leaders, telling them their clay was going bad. Jeremiah, fresh from God’s presence, went out boldly to give them God’s message. He expected them to turn to God, but all he got was clenched fists and resistance.
Then he went to his home town, Anathoth, where all the priests, including his father, lived. He told them to tear down the pagan altars. The locals were furious and plotted to kill him. They felt the preacher’s kid had gone too far. Jeremiah was persona non grata in his own home town.
Jeremiah asked God why the wicked prosper. He felt God wasn’t fair. God answered him saying “You haven’t seen anything yet! Things aren’t going to get better; they are going to get worse.”
Then God dropped a bombshell, telling Jeremiah he was never to get married! And he was not to attend either funerals or celebrations.
JEREMIAH DIDN’T UNDERSTAND BUT HE CONTINUED
Can you imagine the emotional roller coaster Jeremiah was riding? He moved another notch lower on the discouragement scale, but he didn’t quit.
Jeremiah continued with the cycle of encountering God, preaching and experiencing rejection over and over. He held a vase over his head and smashed it in front of the leaders, telling them that this is what would happen to the nation if they didn’t repent. For his message, Jeremiah was beaten mercilessly and put in stocks where everyone could see and ridicule him.
At that point he must have lost the adrenalin rush of being called to ministry. The idealism of God’s call was gone. Realism set in and with it, pessimism despair and disillusionment. Jeremiah was a broken man. In frustration, he cried out, O Lord, you have deceived me and I have been deceived. (Jeremiah 20:7). He added, Cursed be the day I was born. May the day my mother bore me not be blessed! (Jeremiah 20:14). He basically said, I wish my mother had had an abortion.
Jeremiah vented to God and said he wasn’t going to preach anymore. But then he said, his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones and I get weary holding it in. (Jeremiah 20:8-9).
Jeremiah was in a fix. He knew that before he started in ministry, he had felt his life didn’t matter. Then he knew the thrill of proclaiming God’s message. In those times before the beatings and resistance, God’s words made him feel alive. Jeremiah said, I don’t want to go back to a life without meaning, but I don’t have the energy to go forward if this is the way it is going to be. It’s too hard.
God’s response was to ask Jeremiah to sign up for another tour of duty and Jeremiah said, OK. But again the people refused to repent.
Jeremiah is my hero. He was disowned by his family, chased out of his home town, forbidden to marry, beaten, scorned and thrown into a cistern. From his perspective, he was a total failure. Nothing was working.
What would Jeremiah say to us today if he could speak to us?
1. GOD’S SERVANTS PAY A PRICE FOR FULFILLING THEIR CALLING
There’s never been a servant of God who has been faithful to his calling, who hasn’t paid a price. Our world is kingdom-resistant. The evil one is active and thinks nothing of viciously attacking God’s servants.
Jesus set the standard. He was ridiculed, scorned and rejected. He was physically beaten and nailed to a cross, all in the process of securing redemption. Should we expect anything different?
Every Christian leader I respect has scars. Each of us will accumulate our share of bruises. It goes with the turf. There are days when you ask, “God, is it always going to be this hard?” Remember Jeremiah, for whom it was always hard, yet he stayed faithful.
2. GOD’S SERVANTS ARE NOT AS ALONE AS THEY MAY THINK
Many of God’s servants have felt they were standing alone in ministry. Noah and Elijah felt this and so did Jeremiah. But Jeremiah was not as alone as he felt. And neither are you. There are people around who are listening to you and want to help you.
In Jeremiah’s case, Ebed-Melech, a Cushite, spoke up for Jeremiah and got him out of the cistern. Then Baruch was sent to work with Jeremiah. Baruch did whatever Jeremiah told him to do, including writing what Jeremiah dictated. He also paid the price that Jeremiah was willing to pay.
3. GOD’S SERVANTS HAVE TO DO SOMETHING WITH THEIR ACCUMULATED HURTS
Jeremiah wrote, Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked. (Lamentations 3:8-9).
You are going to take some hits in the ministry. You’ve got to deal with ministry discouragements. There will be situations that you can’t understand.
Don’t stuff your hurts down inside and pretend they don’t exist. That will poison your heart, create bitterness and inflame anger. A lot of hurting people in ministry are emotionally and spiritually crippled, living on the edge, just ready to explode, because they’ve internalized all their hurts and hoped they would just go away.
Don’t numb out, becoming a zombie who just goes through the motions of ministry. You won’t be effective if you disengage.
Don’t be a cry-baby, a whiner or complainer. Don’t attend pity parties with yourself.
Don’t be a cynic, falling into despair and a critical spirit. Sadly, as people grow older, some get cynical and bitter as their accumulated hurts turn sour.
As I get older in the ministry, I’ve determined to become sweeter, not more cynical. I don’t want to become bitter; I want to become better. Five years from now, I want a bigger heart for God. I want an expanded vision, not a shrunken dream. I want great faith, not minuscule faith.
The only way to deal with the hits we experience in ministry, is to lay them out before God and to let God bring perspective. That’s what Jeremiah did. Be faithful. Leave the results to God.
4. GOD’S SERVANTS ARE SELDOM ABLE TO EVALUATE THEIR IMPACT
Looking at his circumstances, Jeremiah didn’t see any positive results. Judging by the people’s response, he was a failure. Jeremiah did not see the impact he would have later on Daniel. It was Jeremiah’s prophecy that inspired Daniel 70 years later. Jeremiah did not know that Jewish people would look to his prophecy for hope in the coming of the Messiah. “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness. (Jeremiah 23:5 6).
We look at the external; God looks at the internal. We look at the immediate; God looks down the road. It’s good to evaluate what you are doing to see how you can improve your ministry, but let God be the judge of success or failure.
5. GOD’S SERVANTS CAN DRAW STRENGTH FROM GOD
No matter your circumstances and regardless of the reaction of people, God is the source of your strength and he is always available to help you. Here’s what to do when you are alone, frustrated and discouraged.
Remember your call.
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. (Jeremiah 1:4).
Realize God’s rights on your life.
I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps. (Jeremiah 10:23).
Recognize God’s greatness.
But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. (Jeremiah 20:11).
Sing praise to the Lord.
Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for he has delivered the soul of the needy one from the hand of the evil doers. (Jeremiah 20:13).
Cry out to God.
Do what Jeremiah did. He took his hits, pains and wounds out of hiding and spilled them all out to God. You’ll learn that God can handle a lot of venting. The psalmist said, Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. (Psalm 62:8).
I used to believe it was possible to go through the ministry without pain. Then I thought that there might be some pain at some time for some ministers. I now believe that pain is inevitable in the ministry. Anyone can please people. The tension and trouble comes when we try to please God. When we seek to do God’s will and speak God’s message, we will cross the sinful, carnal natures of many people. It’s tough to please God and please people at the same time.
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