Friday 08 April 2011

Background

Jeremiah was called to a dangerous and life threateningministry. At a time when the nation had lost its way spirituallyand forgotten God's laws, Jeremiah was called to preach repentanceand reform.

God speaks to Jeremiah in chapter 1, telling him he was chosen before hewas even born and exhorting him to speak out to the nations abouttheir wickedness. As a result, Jeremiah begins to share all thatGod has told him with the temple priests and the generalpopulation.

As well as preaching repentance and reform, Jeremiah is given themuch more challenging task of warning of destruction and exile tocome. In chapter 7 Jeremiah describes God's pastdestruction of the shrine at Shiloh as a result of theirdisobedience and then prophesies a similar destruction for thetemple in verse 14. By chapter 26, he has described wide-rangingcatastrophic destruction and suffering, but it is the reference toShiloh that seems to have enraged the crowd to the point ofthreatening to kill Jeremiah.

The story of Jeremiah's life is a powerful reminder of the factthat God does not always call us to walk an easy path. Hisdetermination to speak all that God has laid on his heart is aninspiration to us to be faithful in all that we are called to do.But the reaction of the temple priests raises an important point.Faced with a prophecy of terrible suffering and widespreaddevastation, their concern is not for those around them; it is onlyJeremiah's prophecy against the temple which causes them to speakout and become angry.

To Ponder

Do you feel called to a difficult ministry? Whichpromises of God in the Bible are most important to you as you facethat challenge?

What steps can we take as churches to make sureour focus is on the world around us rather than purely onourselves?