Day 325: When preachers are hated – Jeremiah 17 vs 11 – 18

11 Like a partridge that hatches eggs she has not laid, so are those who get their wealth by unjust means. At midlife they will lose their riches; in the end, they will become poor old fools. 12-13 But we worship at your throne - eternal, high, and glorious! O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who turn away from you will be disgraced. They will be buried in the dust of the earth, for they have abandoned the Lord, the fountain of living water. 14-15 O Lord, if you heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you alone! People scoff at me and say, “What is this ‘message from the Lord’ you talk about? Why don’t your predictions come true?”

16  Lord, I have not abandoned my job as a shepherd for your people. I have not urged you to send disaster. You have heard everything I’ve said. 17-18 Lord, don’t terrorize me! You alone are my hope in the day of disaster. Bring shame and dismay on all who persecute me, but don’t let me experience shame and dismay. Bring a day of terror on them. Yes, bring double destruction upon them! Jeremiah 17:11-18 New Living Translation paraphrase (English Standard Version link)

Pastors and preachers are people too. They experience pain and discouragement like anyone else. In this book so far we've seen how Jeremiah was called by God to preach a very unpopular message. He was to tell the nation that God's judgement had already begun and was building up to an awful climax when they would be totally defeated by a cruel enemy. Those who survived the slaughter would be carried away into exile. What was the particular sin he highlighted in vs 11?

Using a picture from nature of birds who steal other bird's eggs, he likens it to the greed of people who got rich through dishonestly exploiting others. Because such people had abandoned God and God's ways, they would end up in disgrace. But what had such preaching and warning against sin led to? (vs 14-15)

Jeremiah had become the target of their taunts and scorn and he was hurting. Because some of the things he said didn't happen immediately they questioned whether he was a prophet at all. That can happen to Christians who warn others of God's coming judgement too. The apostle Peter wrote: “You must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” that Jesus promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ (2 Peter 3:3-4) And it seems that in this situation where everyone was against him, Jeremiah even felt that God must be against him. So how does he respond to God in vs 16?

He tells God his side of the story. Like a good shepherd who seeks the best for his sheep, Jeremiah hadn't stopped wanting to help the people. He hadn't wished them ill and he hadn't prayed for God to hurry up the disaster that was coming. He had done them no harm – and yet they had turned on him fiercely. What did this the lead to? (vs 17-18)

He asks God to take his side in the mater and not to make him even more afraid. The Psalm writer David also went through times like that. He sometimes worried that the threats of people may have been an indication of God's anger with him. Speaking as someone who has been a pastor of Churches I can identify with that. The deepest pain is not the anger that some people might express because they didn't like the message, but the fear of letting God down in any way. So Jeremiah prayed that God would deal with those who were attacking him and not let him experience the shame that would come on them when the nation finally fell.

While the message of Jesus Christ and the salvation from sin He brought about is the most wonderful message in all the world – it is not popular with those who love the world and it's sinful ways. They will mock and scoff at what the Bible teaches, and sometimes we may feel alone and hurt by all the rejection. But, like Jeremiah, we mustn’t abandon the work of being salt and light in society. By all means, bring your pain to God in prayer, but don't stop telling the message.