Taking Your Frustration to God

Sometimes you share the Word of God and live the life He calls you to and you get nothing but vicious attacks from the mouths of those you are sent to help. This was Jeremiah's reality and it helps us handle the pushback we get from modern culture which seems intent on destroying itself. 

After declaring God's warnings through the image of the potter, the people respond:

Jeremiah 18:18 (ESV) Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

The NLT is helpful here:

Jeremiah 18:18 (NLT) Then the people said, “Come on, let’s plot a way to stop Jeremiah. We have plenty of priests and wise men and prophets. We don’t need him to teach the word and give us advice and prophecies. Let’s spread rumors about him and ignore what he says.”

The people were confident of their roster of priests, wise men, and prophets. Why should they even tolerate Jeremiah's existence?

This is the reality of every generation. Every generation has a set of people who speak the false mantras of the age. Today's mantras are repeated and popular:

1. Follow your heart. 

2. Be true to yourself.

3. Find yourself. 

4. Live your truth. 

These mantras are so often repeated they sneak into the hearts of God's people and lead them astray in some ways. Thankfully, the Lord does not lose His own. But we must know the narratives to counter them with truth and guard our hearts from their influence. 

What does Jeremiah do? He calls out to God. 

Jeremiah 18:19–20 (ESV) Hear me, O LORD, and listen to the voice of my adversaries. 20 Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.

Sometimes we are tempted to respond to those who attack us. But our case must be made before the court of heaven. God is the One who can silence the foolish talk of ignorant men. 

Then Jeremiah asks God for retribution. The words are harsh. No doubt he utters these from a bitterness of soul. 

Jeremiah 18:21–22 (ESV) Therefore deliver up their children to famine; give them over to the power of the sword; let their wives become childless and widowed. May their men meet death by pestilence, their youths be struck down by the sword in battle. 22 May a cry be heard from their houses, when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them! For they have dug a pit to take me and laid snares for my feet.

Friends, this is not instructive. This is descriptive. Jeremiah is hurt and wrestling with the question of his own necessity. Anyone who has served the Lord in almost any capacity has been there. The fruit doesn't match the sowing and you get mad. Why even bother. 

It's okay to get there but do not stay there. 

Jeremiah resolves to leave it in the hand of God with nuanced bitterness in his heart. 

Jeremiah 18:23 (ESV) Yet you, O LORD, know all their plotting to kill me. Forgive not their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.

He doesn't want them forgiven. That's not exactly the right attitude to maintain. But he also doesn't want them in his own hands. God knows. He will judge. And in ministry, sometimes, many times, that's the only place we can get to in prayer.