Poor Jeremiah. He was called the Wailing Prophet as well [or was that another guy?] He has a whole book called Lamentations, a whole book on lamenting. He was heartbroken because he had a vision for his people that they themselves had given up on or no longer cared. Possibly, they never did care because of ignorance.
Must be a little like parenting although, I admit I’ve probably never come half as close to feeling Mr. Jeremiah’s pain. Still, there are situations in life that leave you feeling overwhelmed and you are tempted to give up; like teaching the same thing repeatedly and still being ignored. Or praying for someone that won’t see Jesus as The Way, The Truth and The Light.
This is what Jeremiah said one day: I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. If Jeremiah could have hope surrounding his circumstances then I can too in my piddly things of ordinary life. Not only did he have hope he praised the Lord in the moment.
He also had to do a little stiff talking to himself. He continues: I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” [That’s the part I need to work on. I don’t wait very well. ] While Jeremiah waited this is what he thought: The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait patiently for the salvation of the Lord. Jeremiah seems to get the true picture of waiting. He knew the reason for waiting was to recognize that God was his portion. He understood thinking about God’s goodness in the waiting put things into perspective. He ended the thought with waiting patiently for the salvation of the Lord not the salvation of Jeremiah. I often realize after the fact of not waiting very patiently that I was waiting on the salvation of my own working rather than the salvation of the Lord. He is mighty to save. It’s His saving the situation how He sees fit; not me working so hard. That’s why God gave us waiting. To see Himself at work in our lives. What do you do while YOU wait?
Must be a little like parenting although, I admit I’ve probably never come half as close to feeling Mr. Jeremiah’s pain. Still, there are situations in life that leave you feeling overwhelmed and you are tempted to give up; like teaching the same thing repeatedly and still being ignored. Or praying for someone that won’t see Jesus as The Way, The Truth and The Light.
This is what Jeremiah said one day: I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. If Jeremiah could have hope surrounding his circumstances then I can too in my piddly things of ordinary life. Not only did he have hope he praised the Lord in the moment.
He also had to do a little stiff talking to himself. He continues: I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” [That’s the part I need to work on. I don’t wait very well. ] While Jeremiah waited this is what he thought: The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait patiently for the salvation of the Lord. Jeremiah seems to get the true picture of waiting. He knew the reason for waiting was to recognize that God was his portion. He understood thinking about God’s goodness in the waiting put things into perspective. He ended the thought with waiting patiently for the salvation of the Lord not the salvation of Jeremiah. I often realize after the fact of not waiting very patiently that I was waiting on the salvation of my own working rather than the salvation of the Lord. He is mighty to save. It’s His saving the situation how He sees fit; not me working so hard. That’s why God gave us waiting. To see Himself at work in our lives. What do you do while YOU wait?
Sometimes I stomp and yell. Other times I make myself think about something else and work on not caring too much or I'll lose it, again. Sometimes I actually get down on my knees and pray about it and then stand amazed when suddenly the ice jam lets go right before my eyes and I can't believe what I am seeing, then it takes me a few days to connect the dots between the knee praying and the answer. Such ditzes we are!
ReplyDeleteLOVE this post! Read and re-read some of it. My soul needed to hear some of those verses. Thanx for taking the time to write it out. You blog WELL :-) Like your style and how YOU it is. Blessings to you. ~ Janet. P.S.... found you on April's blog :-)
ReplyDeleteYou know a thing or two about waiting!! Wow! I nneded to read it too..
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