Wednesday: “Cursed be the Day”
Even the harshest critics of the Bible would have to concede a major point: the Bible does not gloss over human foibles and weaknesses. With the exception of the spotless and sinless Son of God, few Bible characters whose lives are presented in any detail in the Bible come away without their weaknesses and faults exposed. This goes even for the prophets. As stated before, the God these prophets served is perfect; the prophets who served Him were not. They, like the rest of us, were sinners in need of the righteousness of Christ to be credited to them by faith (see Rom. 3:22).
Image © Krieg Barrie from GoodSalt.com
From Noah to Peter, and everyone in between, all were sin-damaged creatures whose only hope was, as Ellen G. White says, to go before the Lord and say: I have no merit or goodness whereby I may claim salvation, but I present before God the all-atoning blood of the spotless Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is my only plea. The name of Jesus gives me access to the Father. His ear, His heart, is open to my faintest pleading, and He supplies my deepest necessities.
–Faith and Works, p. 106.
Read Jeremiah 20:14-18. What does this passage tell us about the prophet’s state of mind concerning his own personal situation?
His words here, of course, remind us of Job’s, whose situation was much worse than Jeremiah’s (see Job 3:1-36). Though Jeremiah had the assurance that he was doing God’s will, and the assurance that the Lord was with him, at this point the pain of his present situation consumed him. Whatever his intellectual understanding of what the truth was, for now it was overshadowed by his own sorrows.
At times, many people might find themselves in a similar situation: they might intellectually know all the promises of God, but they are so overwhelmed by sorrow and pain that these promises are pushed into the background, and all they can focus on is their immediate suffering. This is an understandable reaction; it doesn’t mean it’s a correct one, but it is understandable. What we see here again is the humanity of Jeremiah, which is similar to the humanity of us all.
Have you ever felt the way Jeremiah did here? If so, what did you learn from that experience that could help you better cope the next time you feel that way?
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I've been in this period of overwhelming sorrow but it was not something brought about due to my steadfast preaching of the Gospel or working as a prophet as Jeremiah did. Instead, it was brought on by another human being. Regardless, when I was in this state, I could hardly pray. I presented myself to God daily but with few words. Sometimes, all I could pray was, "God, I know you know my situation and my future is in your hands. I know you love me and have purpose for me. I know that you will bring me through this. My will is that it ends immediately BUT not my will but Thine O Lord. Please give me the strength to make it through this day and somehow use me in spite of my extreme sadness. Amen"
I wanted to be useful to the Lord again because I received so much joy as He used me on a regular basis to touch people's lives with His Words but after my marriage split and going through the divorce, I begged God to take me home. I knew he had other plans though, so I would surrender with the prayer above.
Even though I still don't fully understand the "why" I needed to go through that, I am certainly more appreciative and an even better wife to the husband God blessed me with now. Yes, I know that God hates divorce and I certainly did too but God blessed me abundantly and I will not turn down a good blessing! I thank God daily for my incredible loving husband who does so much for me and my entire family.
Be encouraged if YOU are going through extreme sorrow. God always has a purpose! Sometimes that purpose isn't just for you but for the others who are watching as you go through it to see how a Christian will handle unjustices and pain. Don't put on a phony smile but allow the Peace of God to shine through you in the storm. Remember: God doesn't save us from the storm, but He saves us through the storm.
Thank you for your words of encouragement! God bless you!
Catherine, i was very much attracted by your testimony.God loves us. he is able to save us form any kind of storm.Let it be the everyone's prayer that we meet HIM when He comes
I have learnt to only confide to God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I have learnt this earlier on when I saved from the Devil, so I have an intimate relationship with my Father, I tell him my pain, doubts, frustrations, hurts, emptiness, hunger and betrayal that when I became a colporteur and minister I was used to this, while a Methodist. Now that I am doing my own personal ministry for the past 9 years until August this year going to unentered territories, this relationship comes in handy. The only thing that will save us in these time of troubles and the Jacob's day of trouble is your relationship now with Jesus Christ so I invite to just talk to him freely but with respect, not like your buddy on the street.
someone wrote, "without communication there is no relation!
Like Jesus in Gethsemane part of the distress felt by Jeremiah was it seemed only very few would listen, including the scribe Baruch. Added to his personal sense of being alone and abused was the burden of care and concern for the people. Would much be different in this generation?
Let us say in a hypothetical case a modern prophet had said, “Cheese, processed meat and red meat are wholly unfit for food.” Would Christians need the famous “China Study,” along with a widely respected recent study indicating cheese is as addictive as drugs, World Health Organization (WHO) categorizing processed meat with smoking and asbestos (cancer causing effect) and naming red meat as “probably cancer causing?”
In such a case would the prophet’s word be sufficient, or would the masses reason this has nothing to do with salvation, like Zedekiah’s yielding to Nebuchadnezzar appeared to have nothing to do with salvation? (Jeremiah 38:17). Would believers accept the counsel even if they did not fully understand, or would taste and preference carry the day?
Before there is a big test there are often smaller tests to prepare the believer. Those who expect to overcome the mark of the beast and endure the unprecedented time of trouble (Daniel 12:1) will first need to be faithful in little things (Luke 16:10).
In times of great woe the faithful may find support from the same source they trusted for victory over taste, appetite, and self in small battles. They may cry out like Jeremiah, expressing the distress they feel (Jeremiah 20:14-18), but the Lord will always be near (Hebrews 13:5-6).
Interesting examples. We have been so very blessed by a messenger chosen by God for His last-day people! What a shame it is that so few pay attention to the counsels given - especially when they cut across our favorite habits or foods.
Living on a largely plant-based diet for many decades has been un unmitigated blessing for us. But I confess that cheese was one of the hardest things to give up. And I see in plant-based discussion groups that others are having the same problem.
That said, when we lived on a completely plant-based diet over 50 years ago, I thought I'd have to write a cookbook (too busy) because there were so few good recipes available. Many Adventist cookbooks were filled with rich Sabbath dishes smothered with cheese and often including eggs. (We returned to using dairy products for a while because it was so much easier to cook for visitors with the use of dairy products, including cheese. But while we were completely plant-based, and our boys were just little, many wagged their fingers at us, telling us they could not be healthy without milk. But as far as we could tell, they were the healthiest and biggest kids for their age in the neigborhood!! Those were the days of Loma Linda Soyagen for milk. Now we make our own soy milk with a very handy Soymilk Maker. )
Today, a simple Google search turns up hundreds, if not thousands, of delicious vegan recipes - some not as healthful as others. There are even many recipes that supply the same type of flavor as cheese - the "umami" flavor often, but not always, suppled by nutritional yeast.
The Lord wants His people to be happy, healthy and holy. That's why He gave us dietary and other health guide lines. In the face of a global pandemic, following these guide lines is more important than ever, because it strengthens our immune system against whatever virus or bacteria that may be out there..
Let us not be like the people of Jeremiah's time, but let us take to heart and follow the counsel of the messenger God sent specifically to us!
Even one's parents are still human and unable to see our secret pains and keep them. They even do not understand our feelings especially when such is contrary to their expectation. But our Father in heaven is all-knowing and can help in the depest part of secret feelings including the ones we do not know ourselves.
I have been through this overwhelming sorrow last month(September) when i broke up with my boyfriend.At first I did not understand why it was happening to me because I was a new convert and we were in that relationship for just 6 months.So i asked God why , after all you brought me to this church and all of a sudden you leave me.I cried day and night and asked the Lord to bring him back to me because at the back of my mind was thinking that he is the only one God has given me.i prayed to God for a miracle not because I wanted to pray but because i wanted the Lord to do something for me during that phase because i couldn't contain the pain.
Then that is the moment i realized that the relationship wasn't from God.It was out of personal feelings not putting God in that equation.
I know the God that can take care of all trouble,He is the Creator of all.He knows everything,sees everything,understands everything and is waiting for us to let Him take care of everything.Jesus is the best and only complete answer for all times.Are you troubled about yesterday,today,tomorrow,or the years to come? I know God can take care of it all.He gives peace,rest and joy.
The lesson I learn from Jeremiah is not to rely on feelings and emotions, they lift you up but then they drop you down with a crash. Rely on principle and character, trust and belief in Jehovah.
The author of today's lesson asked: "Have you ever felt the way Jeremiah did here?"
My answer is "Yes!" I felt that way when I lost both my daughter--to a car accident--and my son--to a massive stroke. Nevertheless, the Lord healed my pain and I look forward to the blessed day of his second coming.
Wow today's lesson is so timely. I woke with the reality that my best friend died yesterday and it would be so easy to say that this day is cursed. I "intellectually know all the promises of God, but they are so overwhelmed by sorrow and pain that these promises are pushed into the background, and all they can focus on is their immediate suffering. This is an understandable reaction; it doesn't mean it’s a correct one, but it is understandable." God is still God even in bad situations, he is still light when life seems dark.
I am wondering if Jeremiah was not so much feeling sorry for himself or forgetting God, but simply expressing the depth of sorrow with the only fitting words that might express it. Without this expression recorded, would we really know just how touched he was by the approaching doom that was coming swiftly? Would we understand the Divine Nature as we ought? It also helps us to see why Jeremiah was the chosen pen/voice of God to those about to meet the results of their choice of living apart from God.
Notice the character of the remnant as shown in Ezekiel 9:4, and how it resembles Jeremiah's own sighing and crying for the abominations and the results he was shown were already approaching the doomed city and nation.
I don't know that Jesus wished He had never been born as He sat there, weeping over Jerusalem 600+ years later, but His grief was deeper than Jeremiah's, and I believe the remnant who "love God with all..., and their neighbor as [themselves]", will feel this grief as the overwhelming deceptions array the world against the Lamb of God one last time (Rev 17:12-14).
Such a love will drive those who possess it to bring the Light to those yet to see it while it is still "day". The time spent to try and convince those who have seen the Light but reject it(Him) keeps us from the commission given of Christ to all who would serve Him to go to "every creature". We would do well if we, like king David, would inquire to know God's will before taking up any battle.