Lately, I’ve been reading through Jeremiah, and the more I read, the more I’m stricken by what it means to speak the word of God. When I began reading the book, I prayed that the Lord would grant me words to speak just as he promised Jeremiah, but the gravity of Jeremiah’s message is making me have second thoughts about that prayer.
God was faithful to his promise. He “put out his hand” and touched Jeremiah’s mouth, granting him not only words but also an audience. He never promised Jeremiah that the audience would like what he had to say.
Which is why a few short chapters later, Jeremiah wishes he had never been born. The promised words were not pleasant words for the people, and when Jeremiah tried to keep his mouth shut and save his own neck, the words burned within him and demanded release.
“If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.” [Jeremiah 20:9]
