Jeremiah 20:7-13 (NRSV)
Read Jeremiah 20:7-13 on biblegateway.com
Verse 7O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me. Verse 8For whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout, "Violence and destruction!" For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. Verse 9If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. Verse 10For I hear many whispering: "Terror is all around! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!" All my close friends are watching for me to stumble. "Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him, and take our revenge on him." Verse 11But the Lord is with me like a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not prevail. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten. Verse 12O Lord of hosts, you test the righteous, you see the heart and the mind; let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have committed my cause. Verse 13Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers.
Devotion
“Don’t be boring!” my bishop strongly advised as I embarked on my first call as pastor. “Always have something to say!” I have often wondered if that bishop’s office received many complaints about boring pastors.
Well, Jeremiah wasn’t boring. He wasn’t exactly well-liked either. He laments being a laughingstock who is mocked because of his message of doom -- a message of violence and destruction!
What would a bishop have told Jeremiah? “Do you have to be so on fire all the time?” “Can’t you just give it a rest?” “This violence-and-destruction theme is affecting the satisfaction level in your congregation and I’m afraid it’s hurting benevolence.” “Would it hurt you to tell a joke once in a while?”
I am jealous of Jeremiah’s passion and focus. He is not looking for popularity. Preaching is his cure for arthritis. If he does not proclaim God’s message then he feels a burning in his bones. I wish my bones would ache like Jeremiah’s.
Prayer
Gracious God, send your Spirit within us to: warm our hearts with your Gospel; set us on fire so we will stand for justice, hope and peace; and make our lives, our churches and our world aflame with your love. Amen.