God has a history of using the insignificant to accomplish the impossible.
Richard Exley
The Jeremiah Complex: Dying To Self to Be Used of God
Some many years ago, a visiting prophet prophesied over me, proclaimed that the Lord had given me the spirit of Jeremiah! “Wow!” I thought… “What a precious gift from the Lord.”
Later that week while in prayer, I was thanking God for that word, when He cautioned me, and He prompted me to revisit the book of Jeremiah. I did so with anxious anticipation, all the while in a semi-euphoric state, thinking of all that the Lord might have planned to do through me.
About halfway through the book, my enthusiasm began loosing its edge. I realize that being used of God often has a price-tag attached to it. Of the Old Testament prophets, Jeremiah was perhaps the one who suffered the greatest rejection for his obedience to deliver the Word of the Lord. He was repudiated over and over again – most everyone he dealt with seemed to despise him. How often it is, that when truth is spoken by God through men, the truth, and the man are rejected in prideful denial of one’s sinful state.
Jeremiah expressed his sorrow when he wrote:
“Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent for interest, nor have men lent me for interest. Every one of them curses me.”
(Jeremiah 15:10)
Here is a man who has in his own words wronged no one, he has lived righteously before God, and yet they have all cursed and rejected him because of the prophetic word he has delivered in the name of the Lord.
Later in the same chapter he says:
“Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. I did not sit in the assembly of mockers, nor did I rejoice ; I sat alone because of Your hand, for You have filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, as waters that fail?”
(Jeremiah 15:16-17)
Jeremiah knew well the pains of being rejected for not doing what was ‘politically correct’ – he sits alone, with a wound that seems to be continual and incurable.
It was shortly after coming to this revelation that God allowed it to be applied in my own life. I wasn’t ready for it, I didn’t see it coming, and when it hit I was, at first quite perplexed.
I was at an outing with hundreds of people doing team-building exercises as part of a staff development program. It was really a wonderful experience that sought to develop an appreciation for the importance of working together, and using each others abilities and skills. I was enjoying the entire experience, but for one detail - the man leading the outing was consistently using a string of profanities. I was shocked, that such language was being used in conjunction with a professional development program, which was being given by a very conservative organization. I was also perplexed that none of the administrators present seemed to think that such language in the presence of their staff was unacceptable.
During one of the breaks, I went with a close personal friend to the leader and we asked him politely if he would curb the use of such language. He apologized politely and said that he had been “raised on a farm” and was accustomed to speaking in this manner. He made no promise to stop, or even to try to lessen the use of his expletives.
When the meeting resumed the issue became more acute, he seemed to embrace even more “colorful” expressions than before. I for lack of a better expression, I found myself filled with a righteous indignation. Then it happened! I was wondering to myself what I should do, and the Lord spoke to my spirit and said: “Take a stand!” Now everything in me wanted to reject that as a word from God… but as a Pastor friend of mine is fond of saying: I knew in my “knower” that it was God. I raised my hand and waited; I thought “Maybe he won’t see me.” No chance – he saw me immediately and gave me the floor. I expressed publicly what I had minutes earlier expressed to him privately. In my mind’s eye I thought there would be an overwhelming surge of approval from many of my Christian friends who were also in attendance… there was not… there was silence… a very long silence.
Then the silence was broken by a woman who stood and pronounced that she was not the least bit offended by such language, and she painted me in quite exacting terms, as an overly self-righteous Christian attempting to dictate my moral standards upon everyone else. She spoke for about five minutes (it seemed like an hour) singing the laurels of the presenter, while vilifying my position. As she spoke I was thinking: “surely now someone will rise to the occasion and support my stand for the Lord. There was abject silence! When the roasting took a pause, I simply stated to the presenter that if he continued using such language, I would be leaving his presentation. He replied that he respected my right to make such a decision, and then returned to the presentation. It took less than a minute for the issue to be pressed once more. I got up from my seat, gathered by belongings and left the meeting. As I left, I heard a smattering of softly spoken remarks (which seemed to me to be meant to reach my ears) – none of which were supportive.
We had been bussed to this outing, and I had no way of leaving other than to walk, so I began to walk. Thirty nine miles later I arrived home, I had walked the entire day. I lowered my aching feet into a cold tub full of water and had a serious ‘Jeremiah’ talk with the Lord. Why Lord?!
Jeremiah’s plea to God (Jeremiah 15:16-17) was that he had been left is social isolation simply because he had tried to present God’s message to the people. It was his joy to bask in the Word of God, but when it came to living it out and speaking it forth it brought rejection and pain. God answered Jeremiah in explicit terms:
“Thus says the LORD: ‘If you return, then I will bring you back; you shall stand before Me; if you take the precious from the vile, you shall be as My mouth.” (Jeremiah 15:19)
Here God is chastening Jeremiah for his unbelief and preoccupation with his own sensitivities. “If you return,” [if you are willing to pick up your cross and follow me] He says, then you will be privileged to stand in my presence, and behold Me, and you will speak for Me.
I think immediately of Christ, and the price He paid to bring His Father’s message of love. Indeed the Word says that Jesus is like Jeremiah, or more appropriately we should say, Jeremiah was a foreshadowing - of a part of the nature of Christ Jesus. He too was “despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” (Isaiah 53:3) Jesus’ life demonstrates this truth: even if you are perfect and pure, you will be rejected.
We are called to be just like Jesus. Ephesians 4:13 says that we are to “attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” So when we are asked if we want to be “just like Jesus,” we would be wise to count the cost before answering.
"Whoever does not carry his own cross
and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower,
does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see
if he has enough to complete it?
Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation
and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him…”
Luke 14:27-29
The more we become like Him the more we will endure for the glory of our heavenly Father.
Let this mind be in you the Scripture says,
that was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant. He came in the likeness of man. Being found in the appearance of man he humbled himself and became obedient, to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
(paraphrased: Philippians 2:5-8)
Each one of us who desire to live godly lives in Christ will suffer persecution.
Yes, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
II Timothy 3:12
The story doesn’t end there. After my walk home, I knew I had better have a talk with the Academic Dean. The next morning I was at his office doorstep at 6:30 A.M. I knew if I didn’t go in, I would be called in – after all this training was a requirement of my employment.
I asked the Lord to put the right words in my mouth, because I was feeling quite unsure of what I would or should say. I started by indicating that he had probably heard about what happened at the meeting. His reply was revealing and interesting. He said to me: “I you weren’t such an outstanding teacher, I would fire you right now.”
The reason I find that reaction interesting (not frightening) was that God had spoken two things to me years earlier. First he told me to walk with Him and be His ambassador, and that He would make the way clear in front of me. Secondly, He said that I was to “seek to be excellent” in all I do at work, if I was to represent Him properly.
The outcome of the meeting was that my boss said he simply didn’t understand Christians (which in itself is interesting, because he professed Christ himself). He said that I would forfeit my year’s salary increase, because of my stand. I said that I understood his position; but added that I trusted God for my provision and increase.
Three weeks later my wife, who also worked for our school, was called into her boss’s office. He said that she had been doing such an excellent job, that he had gone to his boss and asked that she be given a salary increase. This was in the middle of the academic school year, something that is never done, and to my knowledge has never been done again. She received a substantial raise that more than doubled the potential loss of my yearly salary increase. Glory to God!
P.S. At the end of the school year, I too received my regular salary increase.
All of this was a blessing, but the biggest blessing of all was the lesson in walking in obedience to God’s voice. The next time He asks you to be a Jeremiah, go ahead, take the challenge… you can’t out-give God!
Walking with you in His assurance and provision!
30 fkj
The Jeremiah Complex: Dying To Self to Be Used of God
Some many years ago, a visiting prophet prophesied over me, proclaimed that the Lord had given me the spirit of Jeremiah! “Wow!” I thought… “What a precious gift from the Lord.”
Later that week while in prayer, I was thanking God for that word, when He cautioned me, and He prompted me to revisit the book of Jeremiah. I did so with anxious anticipation, all the while in a semi-euphoric state, thinking of all that the Lord might have planned to do through me.
About halfway through the book, my enthusiasm began loosing its edge. I realize that being used of God often has a price-tag attached to it. Of the Old Testament prophets, Jeremiah was perhaps the one who suffered the greatest rejection for his obedience to deliver the Word of the Lord. He was repudiated over and over again – most everyone he dealt with seemed to despise him. How often it is, that when truth is spoken by God through men, the truth, and the man are rejected in prideful denial of one’s sinful state.
Jeremiah expressed his sorrow when he wrote:
“Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent for interest, nor have men lent me for interest. Every one of them curses me.”
(Jeremiah 15:10)
Here is a man who has in his own words wronged no one, he has lived righteously before God, and yet they have all cursed and rejected him because of the prophetic word he has delivered in the name of the Lord.
Later in the same chapter he says:
“Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. I did not sit in the assembly of mockers, nor did I rejoice ; I sat alone because of Your hand, for You have filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, as waters that fail?”
(Jeremiah 15:16-17)
Jeremiah knew well the pains of being rejected for not doing what was ‘politically correct’ – he sits alone, with a wound that seems to be continual and incurable.
It was shortly after coming to this revelation that God allowed it to be applied in my own life. I wasn’t ready for it, I didn’t see it coming, and when it hit I was, at first quite perplexed.
I was at an outing with hundreds of people doing team-building exercises as part of a staff development program. It was really a wonderful experience that sought to develop an appreciation for the importance of working together, and using each others abilities and skills. I was enjoying the entire experience, but for one detail - the man leading the outing was consistently using a string of profanities. I was shocked, that such language was being used in conjunction with a professional development program, which was being given by a very conservative organization. I was also perplexed that none of the administrators present seemed to think that such language in the presence of their staff was unacceptable.
During one of the breaks, I went with a close personal friend to the leader and we asked him politely if he would curb the use of such language. He apologized politely and said that he had been “raised on a farm” and was accustomed to speaking in this manner. He made no promise to stop, or even to try to lessen the use of his expletives.
When the meeting resumed the issue became more acute, he seemed to embrace even more “colorful” expressions than before. I for lack of a better expression, I found myself filled with a righteous indignation. Then it happened! I was wondering to myself what I should do, and the Lord spoke to my spirit and said: “Take a stand!” Now everything in me wanted to reject that as a word from God… but as a Pastor friend of mine is fond of saying: I knew in my “knower” that it was God. I raised my hand and waited; I thought “Maybe he won’t see me.” No chance – he saw me immediately and gave me the floor. I expressed publicly what I had minutes earlier expressed to him privately. In my mind’s eye I thought there would be an overwhelming surge of approval from many of my Christian friends who were also in attendance… there was not… there was silence… a very long silence.
Then the silence was broken by a woman who stood and pronounced that she was not the least bit offended by such language, and she painted me in quite exacting terms, as an overly self-righteous Christian attempting to dictate my moral standards upon everyone else. She spoke for about five minutes (it seemed like an hour) singing the laurels of the presenter, while vilifying my position. As she spoke I was thinking: “surely now someone will rise to the occasion and support my stand for the Lord. There was abject silence! When the roasting took a pause, I simply stated to the presenter that if he continued using such language, I would be leaving his presentation. He replied that he respected my right to make such a decision, and then returned to the presentation. It took less than a minute for the issue to be pressed once more. I got up from my seat, gathered by belongings and left the meeting. As I left, I heard a smattering of softly spoken remarks (which seemed to me to be meant to reach my ears) – none of which were supportive.
We had been bussed to this outing, and I had no way of leaving other than to walk, so I began to walk. Thirty nine miles later I arrived home, I had walked the entire day. I lowered my aching feet into a cold tub full of water and had a serious ‘Jeremiah’ talk with the Lord. Why Lord?!
Jeremiah’s plea to God (Jeremiah 15:16-17) was that he had been left is social isolation simply because he had tried to present God’s message to the people. It was his joy to bask in the Word of God, but when it came to living it out and speaking it forth it brought rejection and pain. God answered Jeremiah in explicit terms:
“Thus says the LORD: ‘If you return, then I will bring you back; you shall stand before Me; if you take the precious from the vile, you shall be as My mouth.” (Jeremiah 15:19)
Here God is chastening Jeremiah for his unbelief and preoccupation with his own sensitivities. “If you return,” [if you are willing to pick up your cross and follow me] He says, then you will be privileged to stand in my presence, and behold Me, and you will speak for Me.
I think immediately of Christ, and the price He paid to bring His Father’s message of love. Indeed the Word says that Jesus is like Jeremiah, or more appropriately we should say, Jeremiah was a foreshadowing - of a part of the nature of Christ Jesus. He too was “despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” (Isaiah 53:3) Jesus’ life demonstrates this truth: even if you are perfect and pure, you will be rejected.
We are called to be just like Jesus. Ephesians 4:13 says that we are to “attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” So when we are asked if we want to be “just like Jesus,” we would be wise to count the cost before answering.
"Whoever does not carry his own cross
and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower,
does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see
if he has enough to complete it?
Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation
and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him…”
Luke 14:27-29
The more we become like Him the more we will endure for the glory of our heavenly Father.
Let this mind be in you the Scripture says,
that was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant. He came in the likeness of man. Being found in the appearance of man he humbled himself and became obedient, to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
(paraphrased: Philippians 2:5-8)
Each one of us who desire to live godly lives in Christ will suffer persecution.
Yes, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
II Timothy 3:12
The story doesn’t end there. After my walk home, I knew I had better have a talk with the Academic Dean. The next morning I was at his office doorstep at 6:30 A.M. I knew if I didn’t go in, I would be called in – after all this training was a requirement of my employment.
I asked the Lord to put the right words in my mouth, because I was feeling quite unsure of what I would or should say. I started by indicating that he had probably heard about what happened at the meeting. His reply was revealing and interesting. He said to me: “I you weren’t such an outstanding teacher, I would fire you right now.”
The reason I find that reaction interesting (not frightening) was that God had spoken two things to me years earlier. First he told me to walk with Him and be His ambassador, and that He would make the way clear in front of me. Secondly, He said that I was to “seek to be excellent” in all I do at work, if I was to represent Him properly.
The outcome of the meeting was that my boss said he simply didn’t understand Christians (which in itself is interesting, because he professed Christ himself). He said that I would forfeit my year’s salary increase, because of my stand. I said that I understood his position; but added that I trusted God for my provision and increase.
Three weeks later my wife, who also worked for our school, was called into her boss’s office. He said that she had been doing such an excellent job, that he had gone to his boss and asked that she be given a salary increase. This was in the middle of the academic school year, something that is never done, and to my knowledge has never been done again. She received a substantial raise that more than doubled the potential loss of my yearly salary increase. Glory to God!
P.S. At the end of the school year, I too received my regular salary increase.
All of this was a blessing, but the biggest blessing of all was the lesson in walking in obedience to God’s voice. The next time He asks you to be a Jeremiah, go ahead, take the challenge… you can’t out-give God!
Walking with you in His assurance and provision!
30 fkj
Thank you Fred. I'm having a Jeremiah experience right now. With all that's happening in the USA with Christian rights being trampled and gay "rights" being exalted, I'm perplexed that nobody around me (other that the good folks at AFR radio) seems to be concerned. When I defend the Christian position as Christlike as I can, I am scorned and ridiculed. I even lost a long time "friend" over the issue.
ReplyDeleteI see God working and I see biblical prophecy being fulfilled before my eyes. I even knew that this was coming and told my wife ten years ago we were coming to where we are now as a nation. That said, actually being in the midst of the crucible is lonely, painful and almost disheartening. I believe if The Lord were not keeping me, I would be crushed under the pressure.
The only way I could think to describe how I'm feeling is through the writings of Jeremiah. He was mocked, he was called "the prophet of doom" by those who scorned him (I was actually called that by someone close to me who didn't even know she was echoing scripture) he lamented to God that God tricked him into being a spokesperson and that he did not want the job but Gods word burned too strong inside of him and he could not keep silent. He was also very lonely and described as the weeping prophet because he wept for the sins of his people and longed for them to repent but in the end he had no converts.
Thank you for posting. I feel like I'm not alone.