Better to Give In Than to Give Up

               
                 Please bear with me while I focus again on Jeremiah’s “Confessions” or “complaints” once more. His final “lament” occurs in ch.20.7-13 (there’s actually one more immediately following in vs.14-18, but it is more of a Job-like self-curse than a psalm-like lament). Here Jeremiah tells us that he wanted to quit preaching, in fact had even tried to do so. After again accusing God, this time for having been mocked and ridiculed by his enemies (vs.7), Jeremiah complains that preaching the word of the Lord has been the cause of his troubles (vs.8; cf. vs.1-6). Thus, the only reasonable thing to do seemed to be to quit preaching. After all, how much can one man take? Jeremiah not only suffered constant persecution from mockery, threats, beatings, imprisonment, and even being thrown into a pit, but his mission also isolated him from the normal joys of life (15.17), including marriage (16.1-2). In the lament we are considering, Jeremiah cries out, “But if I say, ‘I will not remember Him, or speak anymore in His name,’ then in my heart it becomes a like a burning fire, shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure” (vs.9). In other words, he tried to quit preaching to avoid the persecution from without, but that only brought a consuming fire from within. He felt that he was—excuse the expression--“damned if does, damned if he doesn’t.” If he preaches, he will suffer on the outside from men. But if he remains silent, God’s word will consume him on the inside. Poor Jeremiah! He never wanted to be a prophet to begin with (cf. 1.6), but now that God has put his word into Jeremiah, he has little choice. Knowledge can be a painful thing. The old saying that “ignorance is bliss” wouldn’t have been lost on Jeremiah. Life would be so much easier if only God would have left him alone.

To our occasional chagrin, God is not prone to leaving us alone. On the contrary, he is a relentless pursuer who will not let us quit so easily. Elijah tried quitting (1 Kings 19), only to find that he couldn’t get away from God. David tried hiding his sin from God, only to find that holding it in was worse than admitting it (Ps 32). Jonah tried running from the responsibility God had given him, only to be eaten by a fish and spit right back out where he started. Paul tried resisting God’s goading, only to find that kicking against the goads is hard (Acts 26.14). When God has laid his word on our heart, it is much easier to just submit to it. We know that Jeremiah continued to preach, and continued so suffer persecution. But no doubt he found that much easier than trying to remain silent.

                So the next time you feel like quitting on God—whether by keeping silent about his word, withholding love from someone who spurns it, refusing to confess your sin, or whatever—just remember Jeremiah. Like Jeremiah, we might want to give up and throw in the towel, but God is not going to let us off the hook so easily. It would be better to give in to God than to give up on him.

© 2007 Randy Hohf