Day 25 - Enjoy the Silence

Jeremiah 20:7-13 -----

⁷ O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived;

you overpowered me and prevailed.

I am ridiculed all day long;

everyone mocks me.

⁸ Whenever I speak, I cry out

proclaiming violence and destruction.

So the word of the LORD has brought me

insult and reproach all day long.

⁹ But 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.

¹⁰ I hear many whispering,

"Terror on every side!

Report him! Let's report him!"

All my friends

are waiting for me to slip, saying,

"Perhaps he will be deceived;

then we will prevail over him

and take our revenge on him."

¹¹ But 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.

¹² O LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous

and probe the heart and mind,

let me see your vengeance upon them,

for to you I have committed my cause.

¹³ Sing to the LORD!

Give praise to the LORD!

He rescues the life of the needy

from the hands of the wicked.

Hey my friends.

Well, when I first read this a couple time, I really didn't have a clue what to think. I was kind of intimidated by the aggression. However, I kept reading in this book, and I am becoming more and more of a fan of these verse's every time I read.

First, read the passage three times. Then sit quietly, think about the opening line. "You deceived me, I was deceived. You overpowered me." In another version it says "You seduced me, and I was seduced." My mind was like, "WHAAAA?"

It's one of those verses you have to read a few times. After all it's not a usual thing that you hear Thou and seduced in the same sentence. However, seduced is realistically, probably what Jeremiah is feeling. It's like he is saying, "I was deceived, I was seduced. I didn't bargain for all of this when I responded to the call of God." However, the more he experienced the intensity of God's love, the more he was captivated by it.

Jeremiah is saying that the passionate love comes with a cost. Consider some of the following comments....

"I've become a laughingstock."

"Everyone mocks me."

"People think I'm some kind of weird religious freak."

People want to know, why I don't agree with sex, drugs, and alcohol."

Be honest, you aren't going to Hell for answering this, have you ever, as a Christian, felt like.. "Oh my God, what have I gotten my self into?"

STOP. Ponder that question. Allow God to meet you in the midst of your feelings, even if they are feelings of deception and betrayal. Be honest.

Imagine God holding those feelings in His hand, imagine yourself holding in your heart the intensity of his love. "Fire shut up in my bones."

Journal what you're feeling.

In spite of his frustration with God, Jeremiah writes that the lord is with him like a mighty warrior. The great news is that God is with you, in the midst of craziness. He won't take you where He won't go. You will never be alone. This isn't a God who "loves 'em and leaves 'em."

God is there with you all the time.

God is there with you.

God is there.

God is.

Think about it, "The Lord is with me like a mighty warrior."

Close your eyes.

-Colton