By Jeremiah, Eugene and Me. 

“Ah, Sovereign LORD,” I said,

“I do not know how to speak; I am only a youth.”

But the LORD said to me,

“Do not say, `I am only a youth.’

You must go to everyone I send you to

and say whatever I command you.

Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you and will rescue you,”

declares the LORD. 1.6-8

 

Today I have made you a fortified city,

an iron pillar and a bronze wall

to stand against the whole land–

against the kings of Judah,

its officials, its priests and

the people of the land.

They will fight against you

but will not overcome you,

for I am with you and will rescue you,”

declares the LORD. 1.18-19

God asked Jeremiah to do something he couldn’t do. Naturally he refused. 220

Eugene Peterson says  the job Jeremiah refused was to be a prophet. The work of a prophet is to call people to live well, to live rightly – to be human. But it is more than a call to say something, it is a call to live out the message. The prophet must be what he or she says.220

 There are two convictions that characterise a prophet. The first conviction is that God is personal and alive and active. The second conviction is that what is going on right now in this world at this time in history, is critical. A prophet is obsessed with God, and a prophet is immersed in the now.  220

 A prophet lets people know who God is and what he is like, what he says, and what he is doing. A prophet wakes us up from our sleepy complacency so that we see the great drama that is our existence, and then pushes us onto the stage to play our parts whether we think we are ready or not. 

A prophet angers us by rejecting our euphemisms and ripping off our disguises, then dragging our heartless attitudes and selfish motives out into the open where everyone sees them for what they are. A prophet makes it difficult to continue with a sloppy or selfish life.’ 221

We are afraid of the world around us. It is a frightening place. With frightening people. We are even afraid of ourselves. Of our calling. Of our inadequacy.

We are practiced in pleading inadequacy in order to avoid living at the best that God calls us to. “I do not know how to speak; I am only a youth.” If we look at ourselves and are absolutely honest, we are always inadequate. Life is in fact too much for us. We aren’t smart enough, we don’t have enough energy; we can’t concentrate adequately. We are apathetic, slouching and slovenly.   We have spurts of love, passionate risks of faith, impressive episodes of courageous caring. But then we slip back into indolence. Ruthless honesty will always leave us shattered by our inadequacy. Jeremiah knew it all from the inside – ‘the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately corrupt’ . (17.9) 222/3

The Lord says to Jeremiah “Do not say, `I am only a youth.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” 1.6-8 He says  Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land – against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land.

They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you.” And everything we know about Jeremiah shows that this in fact happened. In a forty-year public ministry through the most confused and chaotic decades of Israel’s entire history, Jeremiah was invincible. Inwardly he was in great agony, many times, but he never swerved from his course.  He was mock-ed cruelly and persecuted severely, but he never deviated from his position. There was enormous pressure on him to change, to compromise, to quit. But he never did. He was ‘an iron pillar and a bronze wall standing against the whole land.’ 224 

His strength was not achieved by growing calluses over his highly sensitive spirit. His spirit registered everything. (But) at the same time he was utterly impervious to assault and mockery. (This) thorough integration of strength and sensitivity is rare. His inward responsiveness to the personal deepened and developed; and his outward capacity to resist depersonalising intimidation became invincible. Not bad for someone who started as a mere youth. 224/5 

Jeremiah gained his strength from hope. His very first vision was the vision that sustained him from the beginning to the end. (Without a vision, people perish.) 

 

The word of the LORD came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

“I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.

The LORD said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”

The word of the LORD came to me again: “What do you see?”

“I see a boiling pot, tilting away from the north,” I answered.

The LORD said to me, “From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land. 1.11-12

 The vision had two parts. The first part was an assurance of ultimate realisation; and the second part was a warning of experiencing terrible pain along the way. 

 The reference to the almond is a reference to one of the earliest trees to bloom in Palestine. It is the sign that spring is on its way. And, in due time, the almond will tree will bear its fruit. ‘The word almond (shaqed) and watching (shoqed) are nearly identical in Hebrew’. ‘So every spring for the rest of his life the sight of the almond blossom, shaqed, would trigger the sound shoqed (watching) in Jerem-iah’s memory (and he’d remember the Lord said ‘I am watching over my word to perform it.’) They can cut down all the flowers – but they can’t stop the spring! 224/5

The reference to the pot, the boiling pot, tipping its contents south, was a warning of the invasion that would inevitably come from the north and bring disaster ‘on all who live in the land’. This disaster is not rationalised, explicated or explained.

It’s just one of those things that are going to happen, that we have to cope with. 226 There are promises, but no false promises. Promises of hope, but not of no pain. We, like Jeremiah, need to strengthen ourselves in the hope to endure the pain. To hold onto the dream of what will be – to deal with the nightmare of what is.

Over the years, my own prophetic engagement has involved a lot of pain. 

Along the way I’ve been scolded, censured and sacked; dressed down, beaten up  and tossed out on the street; officially excommunicated  and publicly sent to Coventry!

As a result, people like Gordon Preece, the editor of Zadok Perspectives, publicly refer to me as a ‘Jeremiah’ – ‘a weeping – often angry – prophet’. These days there is more weeping, less anger. But, essentially, he is right!

Dave Andrews

 Numbers refer to pages in The Quest by Eugene Peterson Zondervan Grand Rapids 2000