BE YOURSELF
Opening Prayer
Lord God, as I read your Word, give me faith to trust in all it says, give me understanding in what it means, and the will to do what it calls me to.
Read JEREMIAH 20
Jeremiah and Pashhur
20 When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, the official in charge of the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, 2 he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the Lord’s temple. 3 The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord’s name for you is not Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. 4 For this is what the Lord says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; with your own eyes you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies. I will give all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon, who will carry them away to Babylon or put them to the sword. 5 I will deliver all the wealth of this city into the hands of their enemies—all its products, all its valuables and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away as plunder and carry it off to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into exile to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.’”
Jeremiah’s Complaint
7 You deceived[a] me, Lord, and I was deceived[b];
you overpowered me and prevailed.
I am ridiculed all day long;
everyone mocks me.
8 Whenever I speak, I cry out
proclaiming violence and destruction.
So the word of the Lord has brought me
insult and reproach all day long.
9 But if I say, “I will not mention his word
or speak anymore in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot.
10 I hear many whispering,
“Terror on every side!
Denounce him! Let’s denounce him!”
All my friends
are waiting for me to slip, saying,
“Perhaps he will be deceived;
then we will prevail over him
and take our revenge on him.”
11 But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior;
so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced;
their dishonor will never be forgotten.
12 Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous
and probe the heart and mind,
let me see your vengeance on them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
13 Sing to the Lord!
Give praise to the Lord!
He rescues the life of the needy
from the hands of the wicked.
14 Cursed be the day I was born!
May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!
15 Cursed be the man who brought my father the news,
who made him very glad, saying,
“A child is born to you—a son!”
16 May that man be like the towns
the Lord overthrew without pity.
May he hear wailing in the morning,
a battle cry at noon.
17 For he did not kill me in the womb,
with my mother as my grave,
her womb enlarged forever.
18 Why did I ever come out of the womb
to see trouble and sorrow
and to end my days in shame?
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 20:7 Or persuaded
- Jeremiah 20:7 Or persuaded
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
When you dare to bring your grimmest, most desperate thoughts to the Lord, you will find him faithful and worthy of praise.Okay, so today we have a thoroughly nasty priest, close relatives accursed, suicidal thoughts from our battered hero, and, worst of all, God apparently as deceiver (v 7). How dare Jeremiah say these things? And how do the lovely, sporadic verses 11 and 13 fit in between so much disgrace, wailing, and vengeance? But this is the Bible. All reality is here—and the ancient writers are under no obligation to conform to our polite literary conventions. Perhaps if we could ask him about this passage, Jeremiah would reply, ‘I know God well enough, and he knows how I felt on that terrible day. Should I not have declared my heart?’ (v 9).
The truth is that dark things come into the heads of most modern, educated people, which we dare not admit that we think—perhaps fully even to ourselves. Christians are not exempt. The inclination of many is to push such ideas straight back down and to dwell, rather, on the ‘excellent and praiseworthy’ (Philippians 4:8). This is a biblical principle greatly to be recommended. However, it is not enough simply to ignore the dark side. The Bible never does so. Rather, Jeremiah chooses a spiritual path, which takes him through his own and his nation’s anguish, always looking ahead to God’s deliverance and glory (v 13).
Apply
Contemplate, for some time, the truth that God’s complete and final victory will come.
Closing prayer
Where I am weak, gracious Lord, I ask that you make your strength known in and through me. In my darkest moments, help me to remember that you, my Redeemer, are for me.
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