Preachers Needed

Jeremiah 15:1 (ESV) Then the LORD said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go!

Jeremiah 15 marks a dangerous declaration from the Lord. He has handed Judah over to her sins. She will be punished for what she has done in abandoning Him. But the manner of her punishment is self-inflicted. Notice the next verse:

Jeremiah 15:2 (ESV) And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “ ‘Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence, and those who are for the sword, to the sword; those who are for famine, to famine, and those who are for captivity, to captivity.’

The description here is of inevitable consequences. Judah had chosen the path to pestilence, war, famine, and captivity by abandoning the covenant with Yahweh. The eventual consequences of life without God are her inescapable future.

God declares:

Jeremiah 15:4 (ESV) And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.

Jeremiah embodies the preaching of righteousness that we seldom hear anymore. God's people have a higher standard and Manasseh followed the standards of the surrounding nations. Kings records it:

2 Kings 21:11 (ESV) “Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did...

Now repeatedly throughout the book, Jeremiah not only proclaims the Lord's judgment on Judah but he also gives generations an inside look at the struggle to preach. For it is indeed a struggle to stand alone and tell people the truth when they do not wish to hear it. For this reason, the book of Jeremiah is filled with the prophet's own struggle in ministry. 

Jeremiah 15:10 (ESV) Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.

To preach righteousness is a dangerous life. The people he calls out are his own, those he was called to serve as a priest. Yet when he teaches them God's Word they attack and vilify him. This is a clear sign of a nation under irrevocable judgment - when they curse those God sent to bless them with His Word. 

Jeremiah is human. He feels as if his ministry is doing nothing. More than that, he hears the threats of his countrymen and despairs of life.

Listen to what God says to Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 15:11 (NIV) The LORD said, “Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose; surely I will make your enemies plead with you in times of disaster and times of distress.

God not only watches over His Word, but He protects those who proclaim it. A man sold out to God's truth will not suffer in the presence of lying sinners. 

A man who speaks for God must love His Words more than the approval of man. He must love to sit in silence with the Lord and to hear Him speak. 

Jeremiah 15:16–17 (ESV) Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts. 17 I did not sit in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation.

This is what it looks like to be a preacher. it is not to be celebrated but convinced that God's Word is true and people must hear it.