With much fear and trembling, I recently began studying the book of Jeremiah.  I began in fear and trembling because I've tried to read Jeremiah before, and became confused about many things.

In previous years, I made a couple of mistakes that I don't make anymore.  I used to read the Bible alone.  Now, I never, ever open my Bible without praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that I have divine assistance to engrave the words on my heart and help me find the meaning that God intends for me to learn.  I also never before read Bible commentary.  Now, when I'm trying to study a particular book that has given me trouble in the past, I go to my church library, and look for a study guide to help me.  Bible scholars, men and women who have devoted years to studying ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek have written thousands and thousands of guides and commentaries to help others deepen their understanding of God's written Word.

For Jeremiah, I'm using Studies in Jeremiah, published by Convention Press (that's the Southern Baptist publisher) copyrighted in 1961 by Clyde T. Francisco.  Between Rev. Francisco and the Holy Spirit, I'm actually seeing things that I wouldn't have seen on my own.  I'm going to share a little of what I've learned here in this post.

Why did God choose Jeremiah to be his prophet?  Verse 5 of Chapter 1 says:  "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."  Well, God knows all of us before we're born, so it's understandable that God's answer doesn't throw much light on the situation to us.  The thing is, at the time God told Jeremiah that he was going to be His prophet, they were already in conversation.  Jeremiah, probably alone among the inhabitants of Israel, actually had a personal relationship with God.  Further reading in Jeremiah let's you know real quick that the rest of the Jews, although they went to their temple sometimes, and paid lip-service to being God's chosen people, the majority had no PERSONAL relationship to their God.

Over and over again, Jeremiah preaches to the people that God wants none of their sacrifices and is not listening to any of their songs, because they were only following the outward trappings of their religion when they went to their temple.  When they weren't in the temple of Jehovah, they were in the temples of Baal and other false gods, visiting the prostitutes that honored those false gods.  The sins of the Jews at that time were many, too many to list here,but all through this Book, the reader can't help but see that the Jews weren't really talking to their God, or listening to anything He had to say to them.

In various places in Jeremiah 10 through 20, Jeremiah wrote (actually, his scribe, Baruch wrote them down for him) several laments, or complaints to God for how the Jews were treating him.  All of Jeremiah's friends left him, and some accused him to the Jewish elders.  God wouldn't allow Jeremiah to get a wife, because He knew that destruction was coming to Israel, and didn't want Jeremiah to bring a new life into a place where invading armies were going to come, bringing death and destruction.  Jeremiah at one point was arrested, and put into stocks for everybody to spit on, and throw rotten food at him.  Jeremiah was understandably angry, frustrated, and feeling pretty defeated; so he complained to God about it.  At one point, Jeremiah even quit preaching.

I'm paraphrasing a lot here, but I want y'all to read this stuff for yourselves, and not take my word for it.  God's answer to Jeremiah was essentially, "Quit being so selfish, Jeremiah.  If you think things are rough now, just wait, because they're about to get even worse."  Oh, my, how hard that must have been for Jeremiah to hear.  Jeremiah was in danger of having the Lord decide not to use him as His prophet.  Although Jeremiah made complaints, though, and was very frustrated, he never stopped talking to God, and by Chapter 20, Jeremiah stopped complaining and got back to doing the Lord's work.

I've been angry with God before, too.  When my older brother was killed in a car accident in 2009, I was angry with God, and told Him so.  Rather than hurting my relationship with God, though, I was actually brought closer to Him. I think it's because I was honest with God and myself, and by continuing to talk to God instead of shutting Him out, I was made to see that I'm very small in all this vast universe, and my plans are also small and insignificant.  Even though I was hurt and angry, and probably no fun to talk to, God didn't stop loving me or talking to me, even if some of the things He had to say were probably not enjoyable to say.
Jeremiah struggle through some awful things, too, and even though he didn't understand all of God's plans, he got his act together, and went back to being obedient to God, and God continued to use him.  Today, we have the book of Jeremiah to study, and to learn from, which was obviously part of God's plans that Jeremiah was never aware of.

We all struggle.  The book of Jeremiah is so much more than just a piece of Jewish history.  I confess, I really like the guy, Jeremiah.  Apparently, according to Rev. Francisco, Jeremiah was an artist, and a dreamer sort of fella before God told him to prophesy.  It seems he liked people, a lot, and he struggled with being the bearer of bad news, and having all his friends leave him, and to see everybody turn away from him and with he'd just shut up.  The struggles of Jeremiah make all of my problems seem pretty small, and his sheer persistence in doing what God told him to do is touching.  Jeremiah's laments to God strike a familiar chord.  We struggle, and sometimes we have no idea why things are so hard; faithfulness and obedience seem to be out of our abilities.  The truth is, though, our struggles don't even come close to what Jeremiah had to endure, and yet Jeremiah continued to speak and to do what God commanded him to do.

We have something that Jeremiah didn't.  Jeremiah had no knowledge of Jesus.  In his day, the Holy Spirit was not available to comfort and console.  Jesus had not yet come to intercede.  Remember in the Gospel of John, Chapter 20, Verse 29, Jesus told Doubting Thomas:  "Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

In this day, we have our faith in Jesus Christ to give us comfort that was unavailable to Jeremiah.  If he could persevere, then we can, too.