Jeremiah 15:11-21: a reflection

11The LORD said, “Most certainly I will strengthen you for good. Most certainly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. 12Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and bronze? 13I will give your substance and your treasures for a plunder without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders. 14I will make them to pass with your enemies into a land which you don’t know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, which will burn on you.” 15LORD, you know. Remember me, visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors. You are patient, so don’t take me away. Know that for your sake I have suffered reproach. 16Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by your name, LORD, God of Armies. 17I didn’t sit in the assembly of those who make merry and rejoice. I sat alone because of your hand, for you have filled me with indignation. 18Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, like waters that fail? 19Therefore the LORD says, “If you return, then I will bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take out the precious from the vile, you will be as my mouth. They will return to you, but you will not return to them. 20I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall. They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you,” says the LORD. 21“I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible.”

In the midst of his hard and lonely ministry, suffering reproach and isolation for God's sake, Jeremiah gives a moving testimony about God's word: 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. Even amid his suffering, Jeremiah found in God's words a deep joy and delight; he took them in like food, and they became the gladness of his heart. And when he grows weary and questions God, God answers with a promise to be with him and make him an unbreakable wall against his enemies.

Notice where Jeremiah found joy amid suffering: in God's words. His ministry was hard, his life lonely, his sufferings real; yet he found in God's words a joy and delight that fed his heart. He did not merely read or hear them; he ate them, took them in, and they became the delight of his heart. Even in hard times, God's word was, to Jeremiah, a source of deep joy.

That is a testimony worth aspiring to. In hard and lonely seasons, we need something to feed and gladden our hearts, and God's word can be exactly that, if we take it in as Jeremiah did, not merely reading it but feeding on it, letting it become the delight of our hearts. When you are weary, suffering, or lonely, do not neglect God's word; feed on it, take it in, and let it become, as it was for Jeremiah, a joy and the delight of your heart. And take heart in God's promise to Jeremiah, which is his promise to his people: I am with you to save and deliver you. Feed on God's word for joy, and rest in his promise to be with you and to make you able to stand.

Lord, in the midst of a hard and lonely ministry, Jeremiah testified that your words were found, and he ate them, and they became a joy and the delight of his heart. Give me that same delight in your word. In hard and lonely seasons, when I need something to feed and gladden my heart, help me find it in your word, not merely reading it but feeding on it, taking it in until it becomes the delight of my heart. When I am weary, suffering, or lonely, keep me from neglecting your word; help me feed on it for joy, as Jeremiah did. And thank you for your promise to be with me, to save and deliver me, and to make me able to stand against opposition. Let your words be the joy and delight of my heart, and your presence my strength.