Jeremiah 20:8-9,11---For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall 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. 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 would have liked to just 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 the effort. He just couldn't keep quiet. Jeremiah was proclaiming destruction and misery, but we have the words of life. 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.
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