Boldness in opposition?

READ Jeremiah 18–21

We heard of a young man mocking God, particularly when he is drinking. Is that a worse sin than my doubts about God’s care for me? Or worse than being afraid to answer mockers because they will shun me? If I lived during the time of Jeremiah, would I have stopped talking if my words resulted in plots to kill me? He didn’t.

God told this prophet to say to His people:

O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done?... Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’ “But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’ (18:5–12)

Instead of listening to God’s message, they attacked the messenger: “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.” (18:18)

Jeremiah was upset. He prayed, “Yet you, O Lord, know all their plotting to kill me. Forgive not their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.” Then he said to the people: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their neck, refusing to hear my words.” (19:14–15)

At that, the chief priest Pashhur beat Jeremiah and put him in stocks, even though Jeremiah told him: “And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.” (20:6)

Perhaps if Jeremiah had done as others were doing and disobeyed God, he would not be in danger, but he was a true prophet. He said, “If I say I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name, there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot . . . . But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.”

Yet this prophet struggled with persecution and wondered, “Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?” (20:9–18) Even so, God continued to tell this man what to say and he continued to tell the people their fate and their choices:

And to this people you shall say: “Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war. For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire . . . . I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds, declares the Lord; I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is around her.” (21:8–10; 14)

Jeremiah heard and obeyed the voice of God, that one voice that transcends and trumps every other voice. He declares to me the gospel, my healing, His beauty, messages of mercy and sanity in this dark world when I often need Him to tell me I am His beloved and protected child. May He speak so loudly that lies are silenced, resistance is muted and my doubts flee — and may I have the boldness of Jeremiah to say whatever the Spirit of God bids me say, even if they don’t.