rejecting the messenger

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 18:13-23

OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:

1. This passage reflects God’s shock and surprise that His people have rejected Him, after all that He has been and done for them. It seems impossible that they could reject Him, as impossible as the snow melting on the mountain heights in Lebanon, or the rivers drying up. “Yet my people have forgotten me”. I suppose the Lord must shake His head at me at certain times when I do the same, after all that He has been and done for me.
2. The irony is that the things we turn to in place of God do not make us better off, do not help us find what we’re looking for. The things that we put our hope in are ‘worthless idols’, they let us down and we stumble on our way. At the end of the day our dreams vanish, and we’ve got nothing. I can think of a person right now throwing everything away for a dream, and its only a matter of time before they stumble. And will God show them His back and not His face in their day of disaster? [17] Lord, be merciful!
3. Poor Jeremiah, he’s just the messenger, but they turn on him, even though his message is supposed to be helping them, warning them of danger. I’ve done this before, and its happened to me. Getting angry at the messenger, while ignoring the message. Instead of listening, I lash out. Like the drunk driver who yells at her friend for trying to stop her from driving.
4. Jeremiah is frustrated, angry, and honest. He does not do what Jesus does – Who prayed ‘Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’. Instead he cries out, ‘God, let ’em have it’ [21-23]. This is probably not the right response, but it is his real response. He is expressing his grieving heart before God, and God is big enough to take it.
5. If I am going to be a messenger for God, calling people back to God and warning them about the consequences of rejecting God, then I need to be a humble messenger, one that recognizes my own unworthiness and folly. I am no better than those that I speak to, I need mercy just like they do. I also frustrate God, I also reject Him in my own way. Like the people I speak to, I also need to listen, even when I don’t like or agree with my critics.

PRAYER:
Lord, thank You for Your patience with me. I hear You challenging me, as Your messenger, to first apply Your message to my own heart. May I and everyone I speak to listen with an open heart to You.