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Morning Manna | Jeremiah 20:9 | In my Heart

Writer's picture: Bro. Caleb TaftBro. Caleb Taft

Jeremiah 20:9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.



In this chapter, Jeremiah has been captured, beaten, and put in the stocks by a man named Pashur, the governor of the Lord’s House. This man was a priest, but he, like most, did not care for Jeremiah’s message or method of preaching. Jeremiah’s messages were far too convicting and were always so negative. In our day, they would say he was just one of those Hell-Fire and Brimstone preachers, always shouting about the judgment of God, and that is exactly what he did. Mind you, Jeremiah was not a hot-headed brawler but seemed to be more of a timid weeper.


Jeremiah in the Stocks


Our verse today is most likely the private thoughts of our prophet while in the stocks for his preaching. From verses 7-18, we are allowed into the Prophet's heart, and it is on fire. There seems to be a wrestling match taking place in his rib cage with what he knows to be true about God and the horrible situation he is in. At moments, he praises the Lord for His judgments, and the next he curses the day he is born. One moment he is accusing God, and then thanking Him. One moment he is quitting, and the next there is a fire burning so fervently that he cannot quit.


There are a few lessons we can take from these verses. One is that our hearts are desperately wicked, which were the words of our prophet just 3 chapters back, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” [Jeremiah 17:9]. When we have been wronged for doing right or we're delivered up for His name's sake to suffer, our hearts are wounded, and our minds are racing. How could this happen? I did what was right! This is unjust! And before we know it, our heart utters this line, “O LORD, thou hast deceived me!” (vs.7). Then it seems our prophet tries to explain his statement, “Everyone mocketh me.” Perhaps in an attempt to justify his last statement or to explain why he said such a horrible thing. He goes on to say that he did what God asked him to do, “I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil.” Yet doing God’s will had a horrible outcome. After all, they don’t want to hear it, they won’t listen, this preaching is doing no good at all, not for them nor me either! They won’t hear it and all it gets me is mocked, beaten, and locked up! Nothing reveals the true nature of our hearts like suffering. We may think, like Peter, that we would never do such a thing as deny Him or quit, but let the cross appear and the crown of thorns and the Roman swords, and before daybreak, our heart will cast for mire we never knew was there. We will curse, deny, run away, weep bitterly, and go back to our fishing enterprise. For Jeremiah, the beating, stocks, mockery, and cruelty were enough to extract the hidden dirt in his heart, and so will suffer bring out the worst in you and me.


Secondly, I am glad that the Bible does not flatter its heroes but lets us know they are men of like passions as we are. If Jeremiah has at times falsely accused God and had wrestling matches with his old wicked heart, then I am not surprised that I have as well. If Peter has quit and Jeremiah, John Mark, David, and many others, then when my heart whispers such perversities, I know it is a human condition and not just an isolated event in my heart. And if they manage to continue, then I can too, by His grace.


Lastly, this verse teaches us how to carry on when we can’t. There is a conjunction in the middle of our verse, the little word “but.” This word may be little but is mighty; it links two contrasting ideas. It linked Grace and Judgment in Noah’s day, “But Noah found grace.” In our text, it's the link between quitting and pressing on, “But his word was in my heart.” Not only were those horrible things in there casting forth their accusations but there was a fire burning hotter and brighter than the passion of a wounded heart. The Word of God was in his heart, and it was there to burn out the dross that had been brought to the surface. Greater than his passion to curse and quit, was the living, breathing, burning word that cannot be quenched. In Peter’s case, the living word came to him on the shores of the lake when he had quit and would not let him. In Jeremiah’s case, the living word came to him in his heart as he was quitting and would not allow him to, “His word was like a fire shut up in my bones.” 


As badly as he tried to forbear, keep it in, he could not, “I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” It burned in him and like a kettle building pressure, that must release and sound the alarm that it has reached the boiling point. This has been the experience of many God-called preachers. Peter, that washed-up quitter, obviously had a fire burning in his heart so hot that no amount of persecution could quench, for he testified before the council “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard,” and when he was beaten for his preaching he left “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.” Many times Paul was locked up, beaten, stoned, 5 times beaten with 39 stripes, and spent days floating in the sea, and yet he testified “None of these things move me.” The Living Word of God is enough to carry you through the darkest hours and sufficient to conquer the horrible notions of your own heart. Do not entertain those notions, or dwell on them, but rest assured they will come, but when they do his word is sufficient to burn out the dross. 

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