“…but he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully...” (Jer. 23:28)
“Oh, that I [Jeremiah] could comfort myself against sorrow, [for my grief is beyond healing], my heart is sick and faint within me! Behold [says the prophet, listen to the voice of] the cry of the daughter of my people [for help] because of those who dwell in a far country: Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her?
[But the Lord answers] Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign idols?
The harvest is past, the summer has ended and the gathering of fruit is over, yet we are not saved! [comes again the voice of the people.]
For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I [Jeremiah] hurt; I go around mourning; dismay has taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people restored? [Because Zion no longer enjoyed the presence of the Great Physician!] Oh, that my head were waters and my eyes a reservoir of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (Jeremiah 8:18-9:1)
The people of Judah had turned away from the Lord into idolatry and refused to repent. The Lord says to Jeremiah in 7:17-19, “Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger! Am I the One Whom they provoke to anger? Says the Lord. Is it not themselves [whom they provoke], to their own confusion and vexation and to their own shame?”
Because of their idolatry to other gods, the people of Judah were going down a path of further and further sin. They were full of oppression, covetousness, and deceit. Jeremiah proclaims in Jer. 4:14, 18, “O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved! How long shall your iniquitous and grossly offensive thoughts lodge within you?... Your ways and your doings have brought these things upon you. This is your calamity and doom; surely it is bitter, for surely it reaches your very heart!”
The people no longer feared or turned to God. The Lord proclaims in Jeremiah 5:27-28, “As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit and treachery; therefore they have become great and grown rich. They have grown fat and sleek. Yes, they surpass in deeds of wickedness; they do not judge and plead with justice the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.”
Not only had the people turned away in their idolatry to sin, but the religious leaders of the people had as well. They were superficially covering over sin and idolatry by proclaiming peace and prosperity.
Jeremiah 6:13-14 says, “For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness (to greed for unjust gain); and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed also the wound of the daughter of My people lightly and neglectfully, saying Peace, peace, when there is no peace.”
The people were hearing words of peace and prosperity and following after their leaders example who were caught in the same sin. Jeremiah 23:14 says, “I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they encourage and strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none returns from his wickedness.”
As a result, the people's hearts had become hard and there was no repentance. The Lord says in Jeremiah 8:4-6, “Moreover, you [Jeremiah] shall say to them, Thus says the Lord: Shall men fall and not rise up again? Shall one turn away [from God] and not repent and return [to Him]?
Why then is this people of Jerusalem turned away with a perpetual turning away [from Me]? They hold fast to deceit (idolatry); they refuse to repent and return [to God]. I have listened and heard, but they have not spoken aright; no man repents of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Everyone turns to [individual] course, as the horse rushes like a torrent into battle.”
Jeremiah cried out to the Lord continually on behalf of the people with weeping and deep grief. He sought the Lord for the people and leaders with everything within him. He was passionate to see the people turn from wickedness and back to God. But the people despised the will of the Lord and totally ignored the words of Jeremiah.
The hearts of the people were hard and dull. They were used to hearing what they wanted to hear and being catered to. They loved the false prophets who would build them up and speak only good to them in the presence of others. The false prophets would speak only of peace and a prosperous future because it was what people wanted to hear. They were full of deceit and falsehood.
And the people had no clue of the truth because they were not seeking God for themselves. Jeremiah 23:22 says, “But if they had stood in My council, then they would have caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them [My people] from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.”
Jeremiah had no benefit to himself in speaking the truth. His words were not only totally disregarded, but he was persecuted as a result of speaking the truth to the people. It wasn't like Jeremiah didn't want what everybody else wanted -to be approved of and received by others. But he continually chose faithfulness to God over pleasing the people and tickling their ears with lies and half truths.
The people not only disregarded him, but his life was threatened for speaking the truth. He was put and stocks and beaten by Pashhur the priest and chief officer in the house of the Lord for proclaiming what was to come (Jer. 20:1-3).
Since Jeremiah looked to God rather than the people to fill him, he was able to demonstrate genuine love for the people, even in the midst of persecution. He invested his energy in seeking the Lord on the people's behalf and speaking out what he knew to be truth to them while he continually interceded on their behalf. It had to have been incredibly painful and discouraging for him when to be disregarded and persecuted by a people who only wanted his harm.
Jeremiah complained to God about his situation in Jeremiah 20:7-11, “[But Jeremiah said] O Lord, You have persuaded and deceived me, and I was persuaded and deceived; You are stronger than I am and You have prevailed. I am a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.
For whenever I speak, I must cry out and complain; I shout, Violence and destruction! For the word of the Lord has become to me a reproach and a derision and has brought me insult all day long. If I say, I will not make mention of [the Lord] or speak any more in His name, in my mind and heart it is as if there were a burning fire shut up in my bones. And I am weary of enduring and holding it in; I cannot [contain it any longer].
For I have heard many whispering and defaming, [There is] terror on every side! Denounce him! Let us denounce him! Say all my familiar friends, they who watch for my fall, Perhaps he will be persuaded and deceived; then we will prevail against him, and we will get our revenge on him.
But the Lord is with me as a mighty and terrible One; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not overcome [me]. They will be utterly put to shame, for they will not deal wisely or prosper [in their schemes]; their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.”
Despite the people's hard hardheartedness and refusal to repent or listen to Jeremiah, he continued to proclaim the truth to them in love and interceded on their behalf for them to be God fearing. Jeremiah cared deeply about the people's heart towards God and their faithfulness to Him.
Jeremiah put the people's relationship with God as a priority over his own relationship with the people he carried in his heart. He continually pointed out God's will for them even when they did not want to hear it. No matter the situation or anticipated outcome, Jeremiah spoke what he felt the Lord was speaking to him in truth.
The biggest problem of the day is that most the prophets spoke lies in the name of the Lord. The Lord says in Jeremiah 23:25-26, “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed [visions on my bed at night]. [How long shall this state of things continue?] How long yet shall it be in the minds of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even the prophets of the deceit of their own hearts.”
Most these prophets probably did not set out to intentionally deceive people. More than likely the desire in them to please others and be accepted, (and probably a desire to find their significance in their calling), caused them to go astray. They were seeking to get life and meet needs of approval, recognition, significance, and power by feeding people words they wanted to hear rather than receiving what they really needed (love) from their relationship with God.
Jean Vanier notes that all people have a desire and need to be loved. He notes that “Aristotle says that when people do not feel loved, they seek to be admired.” [1] What these prophets needed to understand was that in their seeking to fill their desires to be admired, in tickling the people's ears and being deceitful, they were leading the people astray from the Lord.
What God wanted from the prophets was honesty and faithful speaking of the truth. The Lord says in Jeremiah 23:28, “The prophet who has a dream, let him tell his dream; but he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat [for nourishment]? Says the Lord.”
From God's standpoint, the deceit of the prophets was not a minor infraction but incredibly serious. It got in the way of the people having a relationship with God. The Lord says in Jeremiah 23:31-32, “Behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their [own deceitful] tongues and say, Thus says the Lord.
Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says the Lord, and tell them and cause My people to go astray by their lies and by their vain boasting and recklessness- when I did not send them or command them; nor do they profit these people at all, says the Lord.”
The Lord hates deceit and dishonesty. Proverbs 6:16-19 says, “These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feed that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren.
I struggle with honesty at times. It is not that I purposely set out to be deceitful, but I sometimes find myself softening the truth or failing to speak it. My biggest struggle with honesty almost always seems to be tied in some way to fear of the reaction of the other person, a desire not to cause harm to someone and a desire to be approved by others.
Once and awhile if I feel intimidated because I over admire someone, my words get tied up or do not come out as I intend. Then I can be dishonest by simply failing to follow-up and correct my words by explaining what I had meant to say.
However, most often the struggle for me is fear of outcome or response from the other person. What I need to realize that if it is the truth, I need to leave the outcome in God's hands. Too often, I fear disaster and want to control the outcome. By controlling the truth that I give a person, I believe I can control the way that they react. I frequently have an expectation of a negative reaction to truth – especially when it is not positive or encouraging information. As I result, I will fail to speak up and just stand back and pray.
Many years ago as a new Christian, God spoke to me in a poem I wrote:
Sometimes my fear of reaction or rejection is justified and other times not. For instance, if someone reacts negatively to something I speak in truth, at times I have made at times a mental note not to speak about it again around that person (or sometimes at all). Rather than seeing it as the other person's issue in their ability to receive the truth, I often see their reaction as my fault in what I spoke.
Sometimes I will not fail to speak up but will 'soften' the truth. I will skip over parts of the truth which seem too negative or use words that are not as strong as the truth as I may hear God speaking to me. Then I will highlight and focus on that which is in a positive light. I say what I think will be more palatable by others.
I think sometimes a big part of this is not seeing for myself God's goodness shining through the bleak or dark areas. I don't always trust in the goodness of God in darkness or difficulty. I soften the truth because it frightens me and I don't understand it so I don't want to pass on this same fear to others.
Another struggle I have related to fear in speaking the truth is with sharing someone's weaknesses. I don't want to hurt someone's feelings. If I have an encouraging word to share with someone, I have become much more quick to share it. However, when I have a word for someone that has any correction, I often think God must just want me to pray about it for them. I hesitate to share correction. I really struggle with speaking it and will debate and pray for days before sharing it.
I sometimes struggle with giving words of correction, even at work. I am much more quick to give encouraging feedback. However, one's greatest growth can come from caring and compassionate words of correction.
Proverbs 27:6 says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.”
Sometimes I enable my staff to bury their mistakes rather than take accountability for them. In doing this, what I am communicating to them is that mistakes are not okay and we need to cover them to look good. I fail to teach them accountability for mistakes in a way that causes them to grow – both in honesty and ability. I take accountability for my own mistakes and bring them to the light but I don't often set the same expectation of my staff.
Sometimes my struggle with honesty is with myself. I want to be something I am not so I pretend. For instance, I have struggled with a grudge and feelings of unforgiveness towards someone who hurt me deeply. I struggle with being honest about this.
I want to forgive the person and know I should. I have asked God to help me several times. But somehow, the grudge seems to keep popping back up. I keep replaying the pain they caused me over and over again.
In the meanwhile, I keep trying really hard to be supportive of this person because I know it is how I should be – forgiving and compassionate towards their weaknesses. But it is not at all how I feel. I feel deeply hurt, angry and resentful towards them.
I honestly don't want to be supportive of them or desire their best. But at the same time, I know I should forgive and desire the best for them. I struggle with what authenticity looks like in this situation.
Hosea 12:6 says, “Therefore return to your God! Hold fast to love and mercy, to righteousness and justice, and wait [expectantly] for your God continually!”
I deeply desire to be someone who is merciful with people in their weaknesses. But when it comes to showing mercy with people who cause me harm and pain, I really struggle. While I desire it to be who I am -I am not. I am far from it. I struggle with grudges and resentment.
I'm not sure how it looks to walk out authenticity to who I am and who I wish I was in this case. I find myself pretending while holding onto deep resentment. I will often grit my teeth and do the thing I think I 'should' do with resentment and then complain to God about it.
Jeremiah was authentic about who he was, what he felt, what he believed, and what he saw as the truth God was speaking. He was willing to speak the truth despite outcomes. He was faithful and bold -no matter the outcome to himself personally. He realized that speaking the truth (when done in love) was the best no matter the outcome.
God assured Jeremiah over and over again that He would be with Him as he spoke what he was told fearlessly. The Lord told Jeremiah in 1:8, “Be not afraid of them [their faces], for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.”
Because Jeremiah was speaking the truth, his words had authority. The Lord went on to say in Jeremiah 1:9-10, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day appointed you to the oversight of the nations and of the kingdoms to root out and pull down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
The words that the Lord had for Jeremiah to speak were not words of encouragement, but those of correction. He was to warn the people of impending judgment. The Lord told Jeremiah that through him He would, “utter My judgments against them [the people of Judah] for all the wickedness of those who have forsake Me, burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands [idols].” (Jeremiah 1:16)
God was calling Jeremiah to be a watchman. God showed Jeremiah a branch of an almond tree, asked Jeremiah what He saw, then told him that He was watching over His word to perform it (Jer. 1:11-12). One commentary notes that the Hebrew word for 'almond' is saqed, which God interpreted for him as a play on shaqed, meaning 'watchman.' [2]
Commentary notes, “Like a solitary watchman on a high tower above the ordinary events of life below, Jeremiah must stand guard over the word that God had given him as those predictions were enacted in world affairs.” [3]
The Lord spoke in Jeremiah 6:27, “I [says the Lord] have set you [Jeremiah] as an assayer and a prover of ore among My people, that you may know and try their doings and be like a watchtower.”
A watchman is a someone who is responsible to stand guard and peer in the distance with the responsibility of protecting. [4] A watchman was responsible to proclaim a warning when there was trouble coming ahead. It was not optional to proclaim the warning. Not speaking up could at times have devastating impact that God held the watchman accountable for.
Ezekiel was also a watchman. And the Lord said to him in Ezekiel 3:18, “When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.”
One commentary notes about a watchman, “This Hebrew noun is derived from the verb meaning “to watch in anticipation.” This verb is used to describe the actions of individuals waiting in ambush as they watch for their prey (Ps. 37:32). Watchman was an official military position. They were stationed on the towers of a city and were responsible for spotting approaching armies and sounding the alarm to warn the city (1 Sam. 14:16). The imagery behind the watchman is much like that of the shepherd, though watchman as a symbolic title was limited to the office of a prophet (Hos. 9:8). A watchman’s failure was punishable by death. In the case of Ezekiel, punishment would come directly from God if he failed to report to the people the messages God gave him (33:8).” [5]
The good news is that when God called someone to be a watchman and they looked to Him, He gave them the strength needed to fulfill their calling. As God told Jeremiah that he would utter judgments against the people for their wickedness (Jer. 1:16), He went on to promise that He would give Jeremiah the strength to accomplish His will (Jer. 1:19)
He told him in Jeremiah 1:17-19, “But you [Jeremiah], gird up your loins! Arise and tell them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed and break down at the sight of their faces, lest I confound you before them and permit you to be overcome.
For I, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar and bronze walls against the whole land -against the [successive] kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land [giving you divine strength which no hostile power can overcome]. And they shall fight against you, but they shall not [finally] prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.”
Jeremiah was not to fight to defend himself (or demand his rights) but allow the Lord to fight for him. In Exodus 14:14, Moses told the people, “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest.”
Isaiah proclaimed in Is. 50:5-9, “The Lord God has opened My ear, and I have not been rebellious or turned backward. I gave My back to the smiters and My cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I hid not My face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God helps Me; therefore have I not been ashamed or confounded. Therefore have I set My face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
He is near Who declares Me in the right. Who will contend with Me? Let us stand forth together! Who is My adversary? Let him come near to Me. Behold, the Lord God will Help Me; who is he who will condemn Me? Behold, they all will wax old and be worn out as a garment; the moth will eat them up.” [a]
Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah continually looked to the Lord as they were persecuted and saw Him as the only solution to the insurmountable difficulties before them and the people. David proclaims in Psalm 62:8, “Trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before him. God is a refuge for us (a fortress and a high tower). Selah.”
David was someone who demonstrated trust, strengthening himself in the Lord in the midst of difficulty and persecution. In 1 Samuel 30, David's men were talking of stoning him because the Amalekites had raided their camp, burned it with fire, and taken the women and children captive. 1 Samuel 30:6 says, “David was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them all were bitterly grieved, each man for his sons and daughters. But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”
Moses also continually looked to the Lord in persecution and difficulty while upholding the people in prayer before the Lord for the insurmountable difficulties they faced. Ruth Haley Barton writes about Moses, “One of the most consistent patters of Moses' life in leadership is the regularity with which he prayed for the people he was leading and sought God's guidance for situations involving them. Rather than getting caught up in defending himself or arguing a point, he used his energy to carry the people into the presence of God, to cry out on their behalf and to listen to God for their next steps. Over and over again the pattern was very consistent: 'The people complained... and Moses cried out to the Lord.'” [6]
Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah (as well as with Moses and David) all got their strength to be a faithful watchman, speaking words of correction and God's impending judgment while standing up under difficulty and persecution, by their relationship with Christ.
Each of them had a deep friendship with God that overshadowed everything else in their life. They knew the truth to be able to speak it because they continually stood in the council of the Lord (Jeremiah 23:22).
The Lord says to Jeremiah in 33:3, “Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand).”
Jesus says in John 15:15, “I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made know to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.]”
Jean Vanier notes that to follow Jesus is to dwell with Him. He writes, “A 'mutual in-dwelling' is a permanent, deep friendship. It is an intimate, dynamic relationship between two people dwelling in one another.” [7]
He notes that in the Greek, “the word 'to follow' not only means 'to walk in the footsteps' of a master but also to accompany, to be with.” While the men Jesus drew to Himself were called to be disciples, He would also call them friends. [8]
Jean Vanier writes, “Jesus wants them to be with him, to dwell with him and become his friends so that they do not so much announce a theology or doctrine but a person: Jesus. A person they love, a person whom they have a living relationship, a person who is transforming their lives.” [9]
As Jean Vanier goes on to note, the heart of religion is not learning theology, doing good, separating ourselves from sin, and/or carrying out a duty as it is about relationship. The heart of real Christianity is walked out in our friendships – first with God and then with others. He writes, “The heart of the religion of Jesus is relationship, celebration and communion in the joy of love.” [10]
Proverbs 17:17 says that a friend loves at all times. And 1 Peter 1:22 says, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.”
Lord, I long to follow you. Forgive me in the so many ways I go astray! Forgive me for my lack of truthfulness and failing to speak up. Help me to be more honest. Help me to find my strength in you and not in the approval or acceptance of others. And help me to live more authentically without pretending things are fine when they are not.
Would you give us the strength and faith to trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in You at all times and in all circumstances. Most of all, make us good friends, first to You and then to others. There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Prov. 18:24) and You are that Friend. Help us to follow You in ways that genuinely express Your love to the world.
a. God not only delivers us, but gives us the words to speak empowered by His Spirit. Jesus promised his disciples in Luke 21:15 when they would be accused and persecuted, “For I [Myself] will give you a mouth and such utterance and wisdom that all of your foes combined will be unable to stand against or refute.”
And in Acts 6:7, it says of Stephen who was being persecuted by men of the synagogue, “But they were not able to resist the intelligence and the wisdom and [the inspiration of] the Spirit with which and by Whom he spoke.”
1, 7-10. Vanier, John. Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John. Paulist Press, New York/Mahwah, N.J. 2004.
2-3. Who's Who in the Bible. Jeremiah. A Reluctant Prophet. Reader's Digest. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. Pleasantville, NY. 1994. pg. 196
4. Strong, James: New Strong's Guide to Bible Words. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1996
5. Radmacher, Earl D. ; Allen, Ronald Barclay ; House, H. Wayne: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, 1999, S. Eze 33:1-2
6. Barton, Ruth Haley. Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Il. 2008.
[But the Lord answers] Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign idols?
The harvest is past, the summer has ended and the gathering of fruit is over, yet we are not saved! [comes again the voice of the people.]
For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I [Jeremiah] hurt; I go around mourning; dismay has taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people restored? [Because Zion no longer enjoyed the presence of the Great Physician!] Oh, that my head were waters and my eyes a reservoir of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (Jeremiah 8:18-9:1)
The people of Judah had turned away from the Lord into idolatry and refused to repent. The Lord says to Jeremiah in 7:17-19, “Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger! Am I the One Whom they provoke to anger? Says the Lord. Is it not themselves [whom they provoke], to their own confusion and vexation and to their own shame?”
Because of their idolatry to other gods, the people of Judah were going down a path of further and further sin. They were full of oppression, covetousness, and deceit. Jeremiah proclaims in Jer. 4:14, 18, “O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved! How long shall your iniquitous and grossly offensive thoughts lodge within you?... Your ways and your doings have brought these things upon you. This is your calamity and doom; surely it is bitter, for surely it reaches your very heart!”
The people no longer feared or turned to God. The Lord proclaims in Jeremiah 5:27-28, “As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit and treachery; therefore they have become great and grown rich. They have grown fat and sleek. Yes, they surpass in deeds of wickedness; they do not judge and plead with justice the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.”
Not only had the people turned away in their idolatry to sin, but the religious leaders of the people had as well. They were superficially covering over sin and idolatry by proclaiming peace and prosperity.
Jeremiah 6:13-14 says, “For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness (to greed for unjust gain); and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed also the wound of the daughter of My people lightly and neglectfully, saying Peace, peace, when there is no peace.”
The people were hearing words of peace and prosperity and following after their leaders example who were caught in the same sin. Jeremiah 23:14 says, “I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they encourage and strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none returns from his wickedness.”
As a result, the people's hearts had become hard and there was no repentance. The Lord says in Jeremiah 8:4-6, “Moreover, you [Jeremiah] shall say to them, Thus says the Lord: Shall men fall and not rise up again? Shall one turn away [from God] and not repent and return [to Him]?
Why then is this people of Jerusalem turned away with a perpetual turning away [from Me]? They hold fast to deceit (idolatry); they refuse to repent and return [to God]. I have listened and heard, but they have not spoken aright; no man repents of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Everyone turns to [individual] course, as the horse rushes like a torrent into battle.”
Jeremiah cried out to the Lord continually on behalf of the people with weeping and deep grief. He sought the Lord for the people and leaders with everything within him. He was passionate to see the people turn from wickedness and back to God. But the people despised the will of the Lord and totally ignored the words of Jeremiah.
The hearts of the people were hard and dull. They were used to hearing what they wanted to hear and being catered to. They loved the false prophets who would build them up and speak only good to them in the presence of others. The false prophets would speak only of peace and a prosperous future because it was what people wanted to hear. They were full of deceit and falsehood.
And the people had no clue of the truth because they were not seeking God for themselves. Jeremiah 23:22 says, “But if they had stood in My council, then they would have caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them [My people] from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.”
Jeremiah had no benefit to himself in speaking the truth. His words were not only totally disregarded, but he was persecuted as a result of speaking the truth to the people. It wasn't like Jeremiah didn't want what everybody else wanted -to be approved of and received by others. But he continually chose faithfulness to God over pleasing the people and tickling their ears with lies and half truths.
The people not only disregarded him, but his life was threatened for speaking the truth. He was put and stocks and beaten by Pashhur the priest and chief officer in the house of the Lord for proclaiming what was to come (Jer. 20:1-3).
Since Jeremiah looked to God rather than the people to fill him, he was able to demonstrate genuine love for the people, even in the midst of persecution. He invested his energy in seeking the Lord on the people's behalf and speaking out what he knew to be truth to them while he continually interceded on their behalf. It had to have been incredibly painful and discouraging for him when to be disregarded and persecuted by a people who only wanted his harm.
Jeremiah complained to God about his situation in Jeremiah 20:7-11, “[But Jeremiah said] O Lord, You have persuaded and deceived me, and I was persuaded and deceived; You are stronger than I am and You have prevailed. I am a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.
For whenever I speak, I must cry out and complain; I shout, Violence and destruction! For the word of the Lord has become to me a reproach and a derision and has brought me insult all day long. If I say, I will not make mention of [the Lord] or speak any more in His name, in my mind and heart it is as if there were a burning fire shut up in my bones. And I am weary of enduring and holding it in; I cannot [contain it any longer].
For I have heard many whispering and defaming, [There is] terror on every side! Denounce him! Let us denounce him! Say all my familiar friends, they who watch for my fall, Perhaps he will be persuaded and deceived; then we will prevail against him, and we will get our revenge on him.
But the Lord is with me as a mighty and terrible One; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not overcome [me]. They will be utterly put to shame, for they will not deal wisely or prosper [in their schemes]; their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.”
Despite the people's hard hardheartedness and refusal to repent or listen to Jeremiah, he continued to proclaim the truth to them in love and interceded on their behalf for them to be God fearing. Jeremiah cared deeply about the people's heart towards God and their faithfulness to Him.
Jeremiah put the people's relationship with God as a priority over his own relationship with the people he carried in his heart. He continually pointed out God's will for them even when they did not want to hear it. No matter the situation or anticipated outcome, Jeremiah spoke what he felt the Lord was speaking to him in truth.
The biggest problem of the day is that most the prophets spoke lies in the name of the Lord. The Lord says in Jeremiah 23:25-26, “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed [visions on my bed at night]. [How long shall this state of things continue?] How long yet shall it be in the minds of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even the prophets of the deceit of their own hearts.”
Most these prophets probably did not set out to intentionally deceive people. More than likely the desire in them to please others and be accepted, (and probably a desire to find their significance in their calling), caused them to go astray. They were seeking to get life and meet needs of approval, recognition, significance, and power by feeding people words they wanted to hear rather than receiving what they really needed (love) from their relationship with God.
Jean Vanier notes that all people have a desire and need to be loved. He notes that “Aristotle says that when people do not feel loved, they seek to be admired.” [1] What these prophets needed to understand was that in their seeking to fill their desires to be admired, in tickling the people's ears and being deceitful, they were leading the people astray from the Lord.
What God wanted from the prophets was honesty and faithful speaking of the truth. The Lord says in Jeremiah 23:28, “The prophet who has a dream, let him tell his dream; but he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat [for nourishment]? Says the Lord.”
From God's standpoint, the deceit of the prophets was not a minor infraction but incredibly serious. It got in the way of the people having a relationship with God. The Lord says in Jeremiah 23:31-32, “Behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their [own deceitful] tongues and say, Thus says the Lord.
Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says the Lord, and tell them and cause My people to go astray by their lies and by their vain boasting and recklessness- when I did not send them or command them; nor do they profit these people at all, says the Lord.”
The Lord hates deceit and dishonesty. Proverbs 6:16-19 says, “These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feed that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren.
I struggle with honesty at times. It is not that I purposely set out to be deceitful, but I sometimes find myself softening the truth or failing to speak it. My biggest struggle with honesty almost always seems to be tied in some way to fear of the reaction of the other person, a desire not to cause harm to someone and a desire to be approved by others.
Once and awhile if I feel intimidated because I over admire someone, my words get tied up or do not come out as I intend. Then I can be dishonest by simply failing to follow-up and correct my words by explaining what I had meant to say.
However, most often the struggle for me is fear of outcome or response from the other person. What I need to realize that if it is the truth, I need to leave the outcome in God's hands. Too often, I fear disaster and want to control the outcome. By controlling the truth that I give a person, I believe I can control the way that they react. I frequently have an expectation of a negative reaction to truth – especially when it is not positive or encouraging information. As I result, I will fail to speak up and just stand back and pray.
Many years ago as a new Christian, God spoke to me in a poem I wrote:
“Reach out your hand to the ones who’ve lost their way,Sometimes I have taken a negative reaction by someone to mean rejection of me personally. When someone reacts negatively, old tapes start playing in my head that there is something wrong with me. I feel deficient. I want to cover up my deficiencies so I try hard to fit in and be accepted so I can 'look normal'.
Don’t stand back with nothing to say.
Speak the truth to those who do not know,
Knowing yourself what a gift I have to bestow.”
Sometimes my fear of reaction or rejection is justified and other times not. For instance, if someone reacts negatively to something I speak in truth, at times I have made at times a mental note not to speak about it again around that person (or sometimes at all). Rather than seeing it as the other person's issue in their ability to receive the truth, I often see their reaction as my fault in what I spoke.
Sometimes I will not fail to speak up but will 'soften' the truth. I will skip over parts of the truth which seem too negative or use words that are not as strong as the truth as I may hear God speaking to me. Then I will highlight and focus on that which is in a positive light. I say what I think will be more palatable by others.
I think sometimes a big part of this is not seeing for myself God's goodness shining through the bleak or dark areas. I don't always trust in the goodness of God in darkness or difficulty. I soften the truth because it frightens me and I don't understand it so I don't want to pass on this same fear to others.
Another struggle I have related to fear in speaking the truth is with sharing someone's weaknesses. I don't want to hurt someone's feelings. If I have an encouraging word to share with someone, I have become much more quick to share it. However, when I have a word for someone that has any correction, I often think God must just want me to pray about it for them. I hesitate to share correction. I really struggle with speaking it and will debate and pray for days before sharing it.
I sometimes struggle with giving words of correction, even at work. I am much more quick to give encouraging feedback. However, one's greatest growth can come from caring and compassionate words of correction.
Proverbs 27:6 says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.”
Sometimes I enable my staff to bury their mistakes rather than take accountability for them. In doing this, what I am communicating to them is that mistakes are not okay and we need to cover them to look good. I fail to teach them accountability for mistakes in a way that causes them to grow – both in honesty and ability. I take accountability for my own mistakes and bring them to the light but I don't often set the same expectation of my staff.
Sometimes my struggle with honesty is with myself. I want to be something I am not so I pretend. For instance, I have struggled with a grudge and feelings of unforgiveness towards someone who hurt me deeply. I struggle with being honest about this.
I want to forgive the person and know I should. I have asked God to help me several times. But somehow, the grudge seems to keep popping back up. I keep replaying the pain they caused me over and over again.
In the meanwhile, I keep trying really hard to be supportive of this person because I know it is how I should be – forgiving and compassionate towards their weaknesses. But it is not at all how I feel. I feel deeply hurt, angry and resentful towards them.
I honestly don't want to be supportive of them or desire their best. But at the same time, I know I should forgive and desire the best for them. I struggle with what authenticity looks like in this situation.
Hosea 12:6 says, “Therefore return to your God! Hold fast to love and mercy, to righteousness and justice, and wait [expectantly] for your God continually!”
I deeply desire to be someone who is merciful with people in their weaknesses. But when it comes to showing mercy with people who cause me harm and pain, I really struggle. While I desire it to be who I am -I am not. I am far from it. I struggle with grudges and resentment.
I'm not sure how it looks to walk out authenticity to who I am and who I wish I was in this case. I find myself pretending while holding onto deep resentment. I will often grit my teeth and do the thing I think I 'should' do with resentment and then complain to God about it.
Jeremiah was authentic about who he was, what he felt, what he believed, and what he saw as the truth God was speaking. He was willing to speak the truth despite outcomes. He was faithful and bold -no matter the outcome to himself personally. He realized that speaking the truth (when done in love) was the best no matter the outcome.
God assured Jeremiah over and over again that He would be with Him as he spoke what he was told fearlessly. The Lord told Jeremiah in 1:8, “Be not afraid of them [their faces], for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.”
Because Jeremiah was speaking the truth, his words had authority. The Lord went on to say in Jeremiah 1:9-10, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day appointed you to the oversight of the nations and of the kingdoms to root out and pull down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
The words that the Lord had for Jeremiah to speak were not words of encouragement, but those of correction. He was to warn the people of impending judgment. The Lord told Jeremiah that through him He would, “utter My judgments against them [the people of Judah] for all the wickedness of those who have forsake Me, burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands [idols].” (Jeremiah 1:16)
God was calling Jeremiah to be a watchman. God showed Jeremiah a branch of an almond tree, asked Jeremiah what He saw, then told him that He was watching over His word to perform it (Jer. 1:11-12). One commentary notes that the Hebrew word for 'almond' is saqed, which God interpreted for him as a play on shaqed, meaning 'watchman.' [2]
Commentary notes, “Like a solitary watchman on a high tower above the ordinary events of life below, Jeremiah must stand guard over the word that God had given him as those predictions were enacted in world affairs.” [3]
The Lord spoke in Jeremiah 6:27, “I [says the Lord] have set you [Jeremiah] as an assayer and a prover of ore among My people, that you may know and try their doings and be like a watchtower.”
A watchman is a someone who is responsible to stand guard and peer in the distance with the responsibility of protecting. [4] A watchman was responsible to proclaim a warning when there was trouble coming ahead. It was not optional to proclaim the warning. Not speaking up could at times have devastating impact that God held the watchman accountable for.
Ezekiel was also a watchman. And the Lord said to him in Ezekiel 3:18, “When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.”
One commentary notes about a watchman, “This Hebrew noun is derived from the verb meaning “to watch in anticipation.” This verb is used to describe the actions of individuals waiting in ambush as they watch for their prey (Ps. 37:32). Watchman was an official military position. They were stationed on the towers of a city and were responsible for spotting approaching armies and sounding the alarm to warn the city (1 Sam. 14:16). The imagery behind the watchman is much like that of the shepherd, though watchman as a symbolic title was limited to the office of a prophet (Hos. 9:8). A watchman’s failure was punishable by death. In the case of Ezekiel, punishment would come directly from God if he failed to report to the people the messages God gave him (33:8).” [5]
The good news is that when God called someone to be a watchman and they looked to Him, He gave them the strength needed to fulfill their calling. As God told Jeremiah that he would utter judgments against the people for their wickedness (Jer. 1:16), He went on to promise that He would give Jeremiah the strength to accomplish His will (Jer. 1:19)
He told him in Jeremiah 1:17-19, “But you [Jeremiah], gird up your loins! Arise and tell them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed and break down at the sight of their faces, lest I confound you before them and permit you to be overcome.
For I, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar and bronze walls against the whole land -against the [successive] kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land [giving you divine strength which no hostile power can overcome]. And they shall fight against you, but they shall not [finally] prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.”
Jeremiah was not to fight to defend himself (or demand his rights) but allow the Lord to fight for him. In Exodus 14:14, Moses told the people, “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest.”
Isaiah proclaimed in Is. 50:5-9, “The Lord God has opened My ear, and I have not been rebellious or turned backward. I gave My back to the smiters and My cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I hid not My face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God helps Me; therefore have I not been ashamed or confounded. Therefore have I set My face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
He is near Who declares Me in the right. Who will contend with Me? Let us stand forth together! Who is My adversary? Let him come near to Me. Behold, the Lord God will Help Me; who is he who will condemn Me? Behold, they all will wax old and be worn out as a garment; the moth will eat them up.” [a]
Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah continually looked to the Lord as they were persecuted and saw Him as the only solution to the insurmountable difficulties before them and the people. David proclaims in Psalm 62:8, “Trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before him. God is a refuge for us (a fortress and a high tower). Selah.”
David was someone who demonstrated trust, strengthening himself in the Lord in the midst of difficulty and persecution. In 1 Samuel 30, David's men were talking of stoning him because the Amalekites had raided their camp, burned it with fire, and taken the women and children captive. 1 Samuel 30:6 says, “David was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them all were bitterly grieved, each man for his sons and daughters. But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”
Moses also continually looked to the Lord in persecution and difficulty while upholding the people in prayer before the Lord for the insurmountable difficulties they faced. Ruth Haley Barton writes about Moses, “One of the most consistent patters of Moses' life in leadership is the regularity with which he prayed for the people he was leading and sought God's guidance for situations involving them. Rather than getting caught up in defending himself or arguing a point, he used his energy to carry the people into the presence of God, to cry out on their behalf and to listen to God for their next steps. Over and over again the pattern was very consistent: 'The people complained... and Moses cried out to the Lord.'” [6]
Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah (as well as with Moses and David) all got their strength to be a faithful watchman, speaking words of correction and God's impending judgment while standing up under difficulty and persecution, by their relationship with Christ.
Each of them had a deep friendship with God that overshadowed everything else in their life. They knew the truth to be able to speak it because they continually stood in the council of the Lord (Jeremiah 23:22).
The Lord says to Jeremiah in 33:3, “Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand).”
Jesus says in John 15:15, “I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made know to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.]”
Jean Vanier notes that to follow Jesus is to dwell with Him. He writes, “A 'mutual in-dwelling' is a permanent, deep friendship. It is an intimate, dynamic relationship between two people dwelling in one another.” [7]
He notes that in the Greek, “the word 'to follow' not only means 'to walk in the footsteps' of a master but also to accompany, to be with.” While the men Jesus drew to Himself were called to be disciples, He would also call them friends. [8]
Jean Vanier writes, “Jesus wants them to be with him, to dwell with him and become his friends so that they do not so much announce a theology or doctrine but a person: Jesus. A person they love, a person whom they have a living relationship, a person who is transforming their lives.” [9]
As Jean Vanier goes on to note, the heart of religion is not learning theology, doing good, separating ourselves from sin, and/or carrying out a duty as it is about relationship. The heart of real Christianity is walked out in our friendships – first with God and then with others. He writes, “The heart of the religion of Jesus is relationship, celebration and communion in the joy of love.” [10]
Proverbs 17:17 says that a friend loves at all times. And 1 Peter 1:22 says, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.”
Lord, I long to follow you. Forgive me in the so many ways I go astray! Forgive me for my lack of truthfulness and failing to speak up. Help me to be more honest. Help me to find my strength in you and not in the approval or acceptance of others. And help me to live more authentically without pretending things are fine when they are not.
Would you give us the strength and faith to trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in You at all times and in all circumstances. Most of all, make us good friends, first to You and then to others. There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Prov. 18:24) and You are that Friend. Help us to follow You in ways that genuinely express Your love to the world.
a. God not only delivers us, but gives us the words to speak empowered by His Spirit. Jesus promised his disciples in Luke 21:15 when they would be accused and persecuted, “For I [Myself] will give you a mouth and such utterance and wisdom that all of your foes combined will be unable to stand against or refute.”
And in Acts 6:7, it says of Stephen who was being persecuted by men of the synagogue, “But they were not able to resist the intelligence and the wisdom and [the inspiration of] the Spirit with which and by Whom he spoke.”
1, 7-10. Vanier, John. Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John. Paulist Press, New York/Mahwah, N.J. 2004.
2-3. Who's Who in the Bible. Jeremiah. A Reluctant Prophet. Reader's Digest. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. Pleasantville, NY. 1994. pg. 196
4. Strong, James: New Strong's Guide to Bible Words. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1996
5. Radmacher, Earl D. ; Allen, Ronald Barclay ; House, H. Wayne: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, 1999, S. Eze 33:1-2
6. Barton, Ruth Haley. Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Il. 2008.
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