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Jeremiah 20:8-9,11

⁸Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long. ⁹But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

¹¹But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten.

Jeremiah complained that God didn't tell him all that he was getting into when he was called to be a prophet. God never tells us everything upfront, for that wouldn't be good for us. God will tell us what we are able to hear when we are able to hear it.

Jeremiah was proclaiming a message among people who hated what he had to say. This made him the object of mockery and scorn. There were even plots to assassinate him. Jeremiah wanted to quit speaking God's words. There was one problem. The word was in his heart like a fire. If he tried to hold it in, it would weary him with effort. He just couldn't keep quiet.

Jeremiah was proclaiming destruction and misery, but we have the words of life to proclaim. How blessed we are that our message is one of hope and salvation. Yet it is also a message of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In that sense it is like Jeremiah's message. We are preaching the need to surrender. People will mock and scorn us as they did Jeremiah, because they do not want to change their ways. We may want to quit speaking the truth, just as Jeremiah did, but His word is in us like a pent-up fire.

Consider: We have one great consolation. The LORD is with you, reader. He is with you like a mighty warrior.