I really hope you are coming along for the Dig that starts in September. There are lots of great ways to grow in Him, but Digging Deep is surely one. I wish you could be as encouraged as I am. I routinely see groups spawning more groups and I hear words like “life-changing” often. None of this is me, though. The Word is just that: life-changing! We are transformed by it in the renewing of our minds. I read that in a Book, somewhere! Make up your renewing mind and come on along!
On Jeremiah 20:
At this point, it becomes difficult for us to see the blessing. Frankly, if one reads the whole 20th chapter, and even beyond, it’s difficult to see how Jeremiah was praising. One minute, he is saying “Sing to the Lord” and the next minute, he is saying “Why did I come up out of the womb to see sorrow and lamenting and shame?” Both of these sentiments are in this very same chapter.
I’m not finding this in a commentary, but I am commenting from the standpoint of a tried (and sometimes, tired) mother and grandmother. I love that Jeremiah showed me this up-and-down emotion. One minute He is looking at the big picture—that He is righteous and on the side of the God of the universe—and he is rejoicing and extolling. The next minute, he hears the critics mocking. He understands that, while he is working his head off to try and rescue his fellows, that they are jeering at him. He says, “God, I am discouraged.”
Now, I’ll admit (and praise) that I have never been persecuted like Jeremiah. But while I know that God is blessing and controlling and keeping me in the covenant, there are days, in times of very mild persecution (compared to Jeremiah’s) that I weep and lament and say “God, why are you letting this person or these people be so cruel to me and why are you letting other people mock me?” I am being very raw, here, because, in light of what He is doing for me, it seems very small and petty that I would ever question Him or feel that He is, as Jeremiah put it, allowing any of my days to be “consumed with shame.”
Sisters, I’m just telling you that we should all flip over to chapter 30 and find that the our Father sometimes allows us a little more time in the pit than we think is appropriate, before He bends over to get us out. Chapters 30-33 describe the end of the wait.
