An Unhappy Prophet - October 08, Readings: Jeremiah 19-20, Ephesians 3, Psalm 114, Proverbs 24:23–25

Links to Today's Readings

God wants us to be happy, doesn't he?

It has become a mantra of modern American Christianity - the idea that God's chief work is to make us happy, to bring us lives of unending fun, comfort, and prosperity. I have a suspicion where this idea comes from, but I can say beyond any doubt that it does not come from the study of or the sound interpretation of the Scriptures.

Reading through Jeremiah is clear evidence of this. In a section that begins around chapter 11 and continues through chapter 20, our text today, Jeremiah endures one hardship after another in his service to God. He brings his complaints to God, decrying the unfairness of it all. Each time, God answers his complaints in an unusual way - with a new assignment. No sympathy. Not relief from the hardships. Not judgment on his foes. No, each time Jeremiah complained about the hardships he was going through, God ratcheted up the pressure and gave him something else to do. This culminated in chapter 20 when a priest named Pashhur placed him in stocks for prophesying the word of God.

At this point, Jeremiah was low. He expresses this in verses 7-8.

O Lord, you have deceived me,
    and I was deceived;
you are stronger than I,
    and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all the day;
    everyone mocks me.
For whenever I speak, I cry out,
    I shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the Lord has become for me
    a reproach and derision all day long.

Jeremiah is feeling the weight of scorn, ridicule and rejection. He has been faithful in pronouncing the judgment of God on Judah's sin, but the response has been nothing but abuse. He is not only angry at the people who have rejected and persecuted him, he feels mistreated by God. "Why did you call me to preach when no one was going to listen?"

In verses 11-13, he testifies to his continuing faith in God. In spite of his frustration, he still believes in the true and living God, in Yahweh, the Lord of Israel and will expend his life in service to that God. He testifies that God will win - one day.

But in verse 14-15, he says something very strange.

Cursed be the day    on which I was born!The day when my mother bore me,    let it not be blessed!Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father,“A son is born to you,”    making him very glad.

"I wish I'd never been born." He's just expressed his undying faith and commitment to God and his determination to serve God as long as he lives, but he still is an unhappy, discouraged prophet of God.

Here's the difficult lesson for today. Serving God is no guarantee of continual happiness. Sometimes God calls us to hard jobs, to do things that are anything but fun! His purposes in our lives focus on two things: doing battle against our inborn sin to make us holy and using us in his great war against the forces of darkness. Both of those can be ugly at times. Battling against my sinful flesh can be an ugly war - there's so much mucky-yuk buried deep in my soul that has to be dug up and hosed down by the cleansing power of Christ. And the work God has called us to do is no small thing. We battle against the principalities and powers, the spiritual forces of darkness. They are not simply going to lay down and give up. The battle is going to be hard!

So, my Christian friend, your reward is Christ. Your treasures are in heaven where unspeakable glory awaits you. Your hope is there. There you will have rest unending and the pleasure of the presence of God. But here it's war - brutal, ugly, dirty war.

And if we preachers have been telling you anything different, we've not been speaking the truth!

Father, I thank you for Jesus, who gives me hope against the power of my flesh and meaning and purpose in this life, even when it is hard.