Jeremiah 18, 19 and 20 - Jeremiah Grows Up

Poor old Jeremiah! He didn't want the job in the first place; "I'm only a child" he says in 1:6. Prophet to a rebellious nation wasn't what he had in mind as a career in twelfth grade! In these chapters you see him grow up a little. The Jews are beying for his blood, they've dug a deep pit and have prepared shackles and are getting ready to throw him in - no doubt with some unpleasantness on the way. What would you do in this situation? I'm not sure how I'd handle it. I think I might try and run - fighting so many might be an uneven battle. Resolute, Jeremiah calls out to God to vindicate him.

Listen to me, O Lord, hear what my accusers are saying!
Should good be repaid with evil?
Yet they have dug a pit for me.
Remember that I stood before you
and spoke in their behalf
to turn your wrath away from them.
So give their children over to famine
and hand them over to the sword. .... 18:19ff

Nothing like calling down a little fire and brimstone and nothing like a bit of good ol' fashioned biblical revenge! A little revenge is always very satisfying - but if you look here, Jeremiah doesn't want to pursue this course himself but asks God to judge between the parties and to act accordingly. This is an important point. Revenge in our own hands is a very blunt tool - we can inflict limited damage and end up in a vicious cycle of recriminations. But in God's hands it is terrifying in its scope and power. It says somewhere "It is s a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God".

I have to say Jeremiah's still a bit of a whinge bag and goes on at God for giving him the assignment in the first place, see particularly 20:7ff. Whilst most of us have the image of Jeremiah as the whinging prophet - in fact this dialog shows he has quite a lot of bottle - would you argue with the King of kings, Lord of lords and most powerful being in the universe? Perhaps not - but I guess that's why he is a major prophet in the Bible and I'm not!