\u201cWhat\u2019s in a Name?\u201d<\/a>).\u00a0 This new name means \u201cterror all around\u201d.\u00a0 Pashur will not escape the trouble that is coming to Jerusalem but will be right in the middle of it.\u00a0 He will see his friends killed in the siege of the city.\u00a0 Some people would be carried away in exile to Babylon and more would be executed there.\u00a0 The wealth of Jerusalem would fall into the hands of the invaders from Babylon and Pashur and his family would also be taken captive.\u00a0 There Pashur and whatever friends he had left would die in exile.\u00a0 Jeremiah then adds insult to injury when he informs Pashur that Pashur is partly to blame because he has been a false prophet to his friends.<\/p>\nIn verse 7 Jeremiah starts a prayer that seems to turn into a pity party with Jeremiah feeling sorry for himself.\u00a0 The prayer actually doesn\u2019t start out very well with Jeremiah telling God that he feels like God tricked him.\u00a0 It is clear from the Bible that we need to be honest with God.\u00a0 According to Psalm 139 God knows our thought before we even think them, but God still want\u2019s us to communicate them to him.\u00a0 The action of sharing our feelings with him tells him that we know he cares and that we think he can help us.\u00a0 Many of the psalms start out with feeling similar to what Jeremiah says in verse 7.\u00a0 Also Job, whom God himself tells us was right with him, spends a good deal of the book complaining about his situation.<\/p>\n
Jeremiah tells God that he feels like God has defeated him, every one hates him and makes fun of him, and for what?\u00a0 Because he keeps telling them that God is going to deal harshly with them.\u00a0 In verse 8 he clearly tells God that he is in so much trouble with the people because he is passing on God\u2019s words to them.<\/p>\n
In the face of such strong opposition Jeremiah tries to give up; quit preaching to the people.\u00a0\u00a0 But he can\u2019t resist if he tries to keep God\u2019s word to himself he feels as if he is going to burst into flames.\u00a0 In verse 10 he tells God that the people are not just laughing at him but that they are threatening him too.\u00a0 In verse 10 he tells us that the people are using the very same words that God renamed Pashur with and are applying the idea to Jeremiah.\u00a0 It\u2019s like they are saying, \u201cYour telling me I\u2019m going to see trouble, you don\u2019t even know what trouble is, but we will show you!\u201d\u00a0 Even his friends are beginning to turn on him.<\/p>\n
In verse 11 the prayer seems to take a good turn.\u00a0 Jeremiah realizes what side he is on, God is a fierce warrior and he is a winner, and Jeremiah is on his side.\u00a0 As a result the people threatening Jeremiah will fail.\u00a0 In verse 12 Jeremiah asks to see God deal with the people threatening him.\u00a0 He has told God how he feels now he wants to see some action.\u00a0 In verse 13 Jeremiah stops and praises God for protecting him from his enemies.\u00a0 So far this is very much like some of the psalms and like much of the book of Job.\u00a0 Unfortunately Jeremiah doesn\u2019t stop here.<\/p>\n
Jeremiah was protected by God but remember he also wanted to see a little pay back.\u00a0 Jeremiah already told Pashur that he and his friends were going down.\u00a0 There were three separate invasions by the Babylonian\u2019s during the time of Jeremiah and none of them have probably happened at the time of this fight between Jeremiah and Pashur (Remember the language that Jeremiah used in the prediction is future language).\u00a0 IN spite of being protected by God, Jeremiah feels let down.\u00a0 In verses 14-18 his prayer falls apart as he curses the day he was born.\u00a0 He goes even further over the edge when he curses the guy who brought he news of his birth to his father.\u00a0 He asks that they guy be destroyed for not destroying him at birth.\u00a0 In verse 18 he demands to know why God allowed him to be born, was it just so he could be troubled and sad and made fun of?<\/p>\n
Interestingly we are less than half way through the book and probably less than half way through Jeremiah\u2019s adventure of being God\u2019s messenger.\u00a0 Although Jeremiah\u2019s attitude is way over the edge it is completely understandable; the guy had a sucky life.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting for that very fact, God keeps using Jeremiah.\u00a0 In tomorrow\u2019s reading Jeremiah\u2019s job as God\u2019s messenger continues just like this complaint never happened.\u00a0 We don\u2019t see any response from God, any threats to show Jeremiah real trouble, God just keeps letting Jeremiah be his representative.\u00a0 That is very cool, I could never deal with that kind of back talking the way God does.\u00a0 It is to Jeremiah\u2019s credit that he keeps on serving God in spite of his complaints, but clearly God is the more impressive one here.\u00a0 I like it that God is so patient with us.\u00a0 I like it that God uses real people with real feelings.\u00a0 I like it that our weakness does not disqualify us as friends and servants of God.\u00a0 I like it that we can be honest with God; even brutally honest.\u00a0 Finally I like it that, in spite of what seem to be like suicidal thoughts, that Jeremiah stuck with God.\u00a0 God had a purpose for Jeremiah\u2019s life, it wasn\u2019t always pretty, but it was for a purpose.\u00a0 God has a purpose for each of our lives and we need to find that purpose and live it, even if it involves trouble.\u00a0 Ending our earthly existence is never the answer.\u00a0 If Jeremiah had died on the day he was born he still would have existed and continued to exist, but he would have missed so much opportunity to affect others for eternity.\u00a0 While in prison waiting for what could have been a death sentence Paul wrote to the church in Philippi telling them that he appreciated their prayers and that they should not be troubled by his imprisonment.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because people around him were hearing about Jesus.\u00a0 Because of that fact he was not ashamed of his situation and was sure that people would be impressed with Jesus whether he was executed or not.\u00a0 He then told them that while alive his life was about Jesus but that if he died that that would be much better.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because then his troubled life would be over and he would be with Jesus forever.\u00a0 He then told them that he was encourage by both ideas not knowing if life or death was better.\u00a0 He conclude though that life was better because it would give him more opportunities to serve them for God; be God\u2019s messenger to them (Philippians 1:18-24).\u00a0 Paul\u2019s situation was very similar to Jeremiah\u2019s and his conclusion should be our too, we should want to live so we can serve others and when faced with death we should be encouraged that we have a place in heaven specially prepared for us9John 14:2-3).<\/p>\n
God thank you for your love.\u00a0 Thank you for your patience.\u00a0 Thank you for making me.\u00a0 Thank you for giving my life purpose.\u00a0 Help me hang in there in the tough times.\u00a0 Let me never regret the gift of life you have given me.\u00a0 Thank you that I can be completely honest with you.\u00a0 Thank you for not zapping me when I am.\u00a0 Let my life show the world around me the reality of you and the way to have an eternity with you.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jeremiah 20:1-18.\u00a0 Today\u2019s reading continues the story from yesterday.\u00a0 Jeremiah has just told the people of Jerusalem that trouble is coming; big trouble, it is coming from Yahweh (LORD the one true God) and that they have brought it on themselves.\u00a0 In verse one a guy named Pashur, a chief priest in charge of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1712"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1713,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712\/revisions\/1713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}