Jeremiah 1

Behind the Curtain

The Weeping Prophet vs. Israel

Entering into the book of Jeremiah, you drop in on an intimate conversation between God himself and Jeremiah. One day Jeremiah heard God’s voice and it said,

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

Before you were born I set you apart;

I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Vs.5

        Upon hearing something like this you might think that one would be overjoyed and just amazingly touched, without words. Jeremiah was not. He actually says that can’t do it because he’s just a kid and doesn’t know what to do or say. When Jeremiah responded like this, God paused for a moment, thinking and then said,

        “Well, you’re right, I totally forgot. I was thinking about the Jeremiah down the street, my mistake. I’ll see you in about sixty years.”

Okay, so maybe those weren’t quite the words that God said and here is why:

1.   When God says something, he doesn’t make mistakes.

2.   He thinks through his plan fully and completely

a.   For example, God told Isaac to sacrifice Jacob. Jacob sorrowfully obeyed and seconds before he had sacrificed him the Lord said there was a ram in the bush and to sacrifice that instead. This not only proved Jacob’s obedience but because Jacob was willing to sacrifice Isaac, his God-given son who he had waited for through testing and trials, God was willing to give Jesus for us. Thank you Jacob huh?

3.   God sees beyond who we think we are into who we can, and through him, will become.

4.   Lastly, God knows what he’s doing.

In short, like the Lord said, Jeremiah became a prophet. He prophesied to the people of Israel what the Lord tells him. Although being a prophet would be pretty hard at times, he got to see intimately into the heart of the Lord. While he spoke forth the judgments of God, he also saw the sorrow in God’s heart at the unfaithfulness of his people. In chapter two you hear the rawness of God’s pain at this,

“I remember the devotion of your youth,

How as a bride you loved me

And followed me through the desert

Through a land not sown.

Israel was holy to the LORD,

The firstfruits of his harvest;

All who devoured her were held guilty,

And disaster overtook them,”

        He speaks of her as a broken-hearted lover, reminiscing in the joy of the past, a time when she loved Him and followed Him through even the desert. If you remember in that desert he fed his bride and supplied all of their needs. He gave them manna and when they complained, he gave them meat. Israel was and always will be precious to the Lord. We are as Israel is in his sight, now grafted in by the blood of Jesus but that’s a completely different topic.

        As a boyfriend or husband would not think twice about punching out the man who tried to touch his girl, the Lord rained disaster upon those who took advantage of his bride. God is a jealous lover and this is what Jeremiah got to see up close and personal, hearing it from the very tongue of the Lord.