O LORD . . . REMEMBER ME

Jeremiah is not the only man to wish he had never been born, v. 10; 20. 14-18. l

Job went through a similar period of depression, Job 3. 1-3, 11, as a consequence of the personal disasters which befell him. But while Job’s misery sprang from external circumstances, Jeremiah’s was tied up with his very office as a prophet of God. Called to preach not forgiveness, nor long suffering, nor peace, but inexorable divine judgement upon a rebellious people, he obeyed. Yet the strain was great. Like all men of God, he was no unfeeling preaching-machine, untouched by the terms of his message or the character of his audience’s response.

Like the Saviour after him, Jeremiah, in preaching, wept over the hardness of Jerusalem. Seeing the city already under judgement, assured of a coming Babylonian invasion, and facing the hostility of his compatriots who saw him as a traitor, Jeremiah was a social outcast, v. 17.

When all others fail, to whom do we turn? Jeremiah comes before God with customary honesty and bares his soul in all its pain.

Perhaps we have been called to a sphere of service which receives no loud acclaim and sees no bright success. To speak the truth in love today will cause offence in a religious world where the authority of God’s word has been abandoned. When local assemblies flout the divine instructions about gathering, when biblical standards of marriage are disregarded, when even the gospel itself is trivialized into a cosy appeal to man’s self-esteem instead of a solemn indictment of his sin, then we need men like Jeremiah.

Jeremiah speaks to God about the sustenance he finds in His word, v. 16. God’s words - the plural form suggests the value of the smallest detail - are his source of edification (for he ate them), his enjoyment, and his encouragement, confirming the deep assurance that he belonged to Jehovah.

When the ministry to which God calls us seems painful and apparently fruitless, let us turn to Him and find succour in His unfailing words of truth. As the word calls us to prayer, so prayer will drive us back to the word.