It's Lonely at the Bottom

Following on last week's theme from Jeremiah, I am once again confused--and more than a little disturbed--by what I read today. Perhaps that is as it should be. Consider this dialogue between God and Jeremiah from Jer. 15:10-21

Then I said,
“What sorrow is mine, my mother.
Oh, that I had died at birth!
I am hated everywhere I go.
I am neither a lender who threatens to foreclose
nor a borrower who refuses to pay—
yet they all curse me.”

The Lord replied,

“I will take care of you, Jeremiah.
Your enemies will ask you to plead on their behalf
in times of trouble and distress.
Can a man break a bar of iron from the north,
or a bar of bronze?
At no cost to them,
I will hand over your wealth and treasures
as plunder to your enemies,
for sin runs rampant in your land.
I will tell your enemies to take you
as captives to a foreign land.
For my anger blazes like a fire
that will burn forever.[a]”

Then I said,

“Lord, you know what’s happening to me.
Please step in and help me. Punish my persecutors!
Please give me time; don’t let me die young.
It’s for your sake that I am suffering.
When I discovered your words, I devoured them.
They are my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.
I never joined the people in their merry feasts.
I sat alone because your hand was on me.
I was filled with indignation at their sins.
Why then does my suffering continue?
Why is my wound so incurable?
Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook,
like a spring that has gone dry.”

This is how the Lord responds:

“If you return to me, I will restore you
so you can continue to serve me.
If you speak good words rather than worthless ones,
you will be my spokesman.
You must influence them;
do not let them influence you!
They will fight against you like an attacking army,
but I will make you as secure as a fortified wall of bronze.
They will not conquer you,
for I am with you to protect and rescue you.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men.
I will rescue you from their cruel hands.”

Again: two or three things stand out to me.

"I am neither a lender who threatens to foreclose; nor a borrower who refuses to pay--yet they all curse me." (15:10) This reminds one of Paul's depressing New Testament prophecy that "everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Tim. 3:12) It seems to me that people are far more willing to sacrifice money, than sin. Generally, we'd rather live in poverty than give up our pride. Consequently, Jeremiah--God's spokesman--found himself persona non grata in the very community he was trying (to no avail) to save from utter disaster. Such is the life of one of God's favorites, I suppose.

The more disturbing message is to follow. At first, it seems like Jeremiah will at least receive steadfast comfort from his God. He is told "I will take care of you, Jeremiah..." (15:11) God seems to have a rather different notion of what "I'll take care of you" means than Jeremiah had in mind. The LORD goes on to warn His prophet:

"At no cost to them, I will hand over your wealth and treasures as plunder to your enemies, for sin runs rampant in your land. I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land. For My anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever." (15:13-14)

At first glance, it's tempting to read these words of judgment as simply a societal judgment (i.e., to understand God to be speaking them to Jeremiah only insofar as he is a representative of the reprobate community) It is tempting to almost imagine an oracle of judgment and exile being spoken to Jeremiah even as God gives him a "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" to let the prophet know that this is not meant to be his fate.

Such illusions are shattered, however, by the remainder of the dialogue. Jeremiah first pleads with God to "step in and help" to "punish [his]persecutors" (15:15) Jeremiah even seems to go so far as trying to "guilt" God by saying "It's for Your sake that I'm suffering." (15:15)

This is the moment at which we want God to clarify--to say, "Oh no, Jeremiah, I'm VERY pleased with you. You're a good and faithful servant. All that judgment stuff was meant for the OTHER people." The LORD's actual response, however, is rather different:

If you return to Me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve Me. If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be My spokesman. You must influence them. Do not let them influence you. They will fight against you like an attacking army, but I will make you as secure as a fortified wall of bronze. They will not conquer you, for I am with you to protect and rescue you. I, the Lord, have spoken! Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men. I will rescue you from their cruel hands.

If I'm understanding this correctly, God is telling Jeremiah that he (Jeremiah) will lose everything short of his life--and that, only because of the prophet's faithfulness to God. Furthermore, it seems that Jeremiah's life is being spared not so much as a reward or as "wages earned for faithfulness" but only so that he "can continue to serve" God. One suspects that, should Jeremiah fail to meet the conditions God lays out, the prophet might very well end up sharing the fate of the rest of Judah.

What does such a text have to say to Christians (and ministers, in particular) today? I feel it puts the lie to one of the most popular heresies of modern evangelicalism: that people (either individually or collectively) are the highest priority. It seems to me that God is, in fact, the highest priority. He is the priority not only of Jeremiah, but also of Himself. Perhaps this is as it must be. Could God be any different than He is and still be God?

I'm just not sure where to go with this text. I would appreciate your thoughts/critiques. I don't want my summation to be right...but even less do I want to go around believing a lie.

Of God and Men

Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for these people anymore. When they fast, I will pay no attention. When they present their burnt offerings and grain offerings to Me, I will not accept them. Instead, I will devour them with war, famine, and disease.”

Then I said, “O Sovereign Lord, their prophets are telling them, ‘All is well—no war or famine will come. The Lord will surely send you peace.’”

Then the Lord said, “These prophets are telling lies in my name. I did not send them or tell them to speak. I did not give them any messages. They prophesy of visions and revelations they have never seen or heard. They speak foolishness made up in their own lying hearts. Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I will punish these lying prophets, for they have spoken in my name even though I never sent them. They say that no war or famine will come, but they themselves will die by war and famine! As for the people to whom they prophesy—their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and war. There will be no one left to bury them. Husbands, wives, sons, and daughters—all will be gone. For I will pour out their own wickedness on them. Now, Jeremiah, say this to them:

“Night and day my eyes overflow with tears.
I cannot stop weeping,
for my virgin daughter—my precious people—
has been struck down
and lies mortally wounded.
If I go out into the fields,
I see the bodies of people slaughtered by the enemy.
If I walk the city streets,
I see people who have died of starvation.
The prophets and priests continue with their work,
but they don’t know what they’re doing.” -- Jer. 14:11-18

As with so much else in the ministry of Jeremiah, this oracle presents a number of stark challenges to the vision of God and ministry prevalent in the minds of many Christians. To be frank, I do not know how to square all of this with the example of Jesus...but I know that it MUST be squared. We cannot act as if the God Jeremiah served is somehow different from the One we serve. That would be Marcionism. We cannot claim that God Himself somehow changed His fundamental character between Testaments (i.e., that God "became a Christian" and consequently changed all the rules of His interactions with Creation.)

With so many questions, then, what word(s) for our upcoming week can we gain from this passage? It seems to me there are at least three or four points worthy of our quiet moment ponderings:

1. God CAN change. This stands in sharp contrast to the vision most of us carry of a God who is eternally "immutable" (just a big word meaning that He never changes). The doctrine of God's immutability comes out of Greek philosophy and early on was wedded to Christian doctrine. Additionally, there are passages of Scripture which, when taken by themselves, seem to explicitly teach the doctrine of immutability. Unfortunately, too much of the rest of Scripture informs us that God can...and frequently does...change. When God became flesh in Jesus...was that not a change? When God died in Jesus...was that not a change, too? And if God cannot change, then why do we ever pray and ask Him to do (or refrain from doing) anything at all?

2. God loves us unconditionally...but there are purposes in the universe of more weight than satisfying our human cravings. Just because we are the most-loved part of Creation, that does not mean that humanity is center or the purpose of Creation. All that is exists with the purpose of glorifying and serving God...not the other way around. Jeremiah's message, again, suggests that we may so rebel against God that we forfeit our right to be called His people.

3. People have always found prophets who tell them they've nothing to repent of, and that God is quite pleased with their lives just as they are. Worse yet, we have a dangerous tendency to seek out the voices that preach "all is well--no war or famine will come. The LORD will surely send you peace." This is an inherent danger of having ministers who are financially beholden to the congregations they minister to. It is the rare church that can hear...that is willing to hear...a less-than-adulatory message from its preacher. Yet, if we learn anything from Jeremiah it is that greater disaster might very well have been averted had the people been willing to listen to the hard truths he spoke.

No doubt, many could find fault with the three points I have outlined. And I will be the first to admit that there are problems with each of these points. As I said at the beginning, I make no claim to have all the answers on these topics. Indeed, the older I get, the more convinced I am that the most profound truths of God and our relationship to Him simply CANNOT be put into words...they can only be lived...experienced. I ask, then, that you consider my three points not as doctrinal propositions to be either refuted in debate, or committed to rote like a catechism. Rather, take them as lenses with which to understand your experience of life and your walk with God. Try them on. See if they make the picture clearer and your steps surer. Don't staple them to your head, as it may be they are not the lenses you need right now...but don't throw them away either. If Jeremiah and Judah needed these lenses in their lives, it's a fair bet that you will--someday--need them in your own.

It's Someone Named "God" on Line One...

The first chapter of Jeremiah includes what’s known, in biblical studies, as a “call narrative.” Basically, this is the story of how a prophet becomes a prophet. Classic literary criticism teaches that the call narrative was intended to legitimize the prophet in the eyes of his audience.

While I think call stories probably functioned in this capacity on some level, I don’t believe it was their primary purpose. There were tons of false prophets running around in Jeremiah’s day (we’ll see him have to contend with them repeatedly) and they, no doubt, produced their own “call stories” to impress the people. Ultimately, there was no way for the average Israelite to verify whose call stories were true and whose were made up.

Consequently, rather than being for the audience, I believe that the call experience was primarily for the prophet himself. It was an event he could look back on and draw strength from, during times of rejection and persecution. This would have been important as Jesus Himself said that rejection and persecution were almost universal experiences among God’s prophets. (Matt. 5:12; 23:29-37; Lk. 6:22-23; 11:47-49; 13:33-34)

That being the case, God used Jeremiah’s call to anchor the prophet—from the very beginning—in the truth that, though he will minister to the people, he does not work for them. Ultimately, Jeremiah is God’s servant; And therefore can be no one else’s. This idea may not have been as obvious as we might think. Jeremiah’s world was full of prophets-for-hire who say whatever you wanted to hear…for the right price. Not surprisingly, most of their “prophecies” ran something like this:

Thus sayeth the LORD: Thou art awesome. Everything thou doest is great. Thou has nothing for which thou needest to repent nor make recompense. Thy only problem is that thou hast not enough money and power. Thou needest more…nay, thou deservest more. I, the LORD, hath spoken.

As always happens when the Word of God ceases to be a Truth to be taught and becomes instead a commodity to be marketed, the people of Jeremiah’s day began to “prophet-hop” in the same way that some church-hop today. As his career unfolded, Jeremiah would be ridiculed, imprisoned, put in stocks, and left for dead. The temptation to take the easy way out and simply give the people what they wanted must have been tremendous. I suspect that during those dark days of his ministry, Jeremiah recalled the words God initially spoke to him:

“…You must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you… I have put My words in your mouth! Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow. Others you must build up and plant…Get up and prepare for action. Go out and tell them everything I tell you to say. Do not be afraid of them, or I will make you look foolish in front of them. For see, today I have made you strong like a fortified city that cannot be captured, like an iron pillar or a bronze wall. You will stand against the whole land—the kings, officials, priests, and people…They will fight you, but they will fail, for I am with you, and I will take care of you. I, the LORD, have spoken!” (Jer. 1:7-10, 17-19)

-- Justin

Memory Verse

The Calling of Jeremiah coloring page

Almond Branches & Boiling Pots coloring page

Before I Formed You in the Womb

Additional Thought/Discussion Questions from Chapter One

1. God told Jeremiah, “Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as My prophet to the nations.” (1:5) Parents, what if you knew God had a similarly important destiny in mind for your child/children? If this knowledge would motivate you to do anything differently, why aren’t you doing it differently right now?

2. Are you hesitant to speak up for God? Jeremiah said he was “too young,” (1:6)what excuses have you used not to speak God’s words? What do you think is a good excuse for not standing up for the truth?

3. God said Jeremiah was being called to “destroy and overthrow…build up and plant” kingdoms.(1:10) How incredible is this!? Do you normally think of individuals with no real money or power at their disposal as being capable of such world-transforming work? What does this tell you about your own ability to change the world?

4. Why do you think it was important for people in Jeremiah’s day to know that God was “watching” (1:12)? Do you believe that He’s still “watching” today?