Jeremiah 20:1-18: a reflection

1Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the LORD’s house, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the LORD’s house. 3On the next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD has not called your name Pashhur, but Magormissabib. 4For the LORD says, ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive to Babylon, and will kill them with the sword. 5Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all its precious things, yes, I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies. They will make them captives, take them, and carry them to Babylon. 6You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity. You will come to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.’” 7LORD, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded. You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day. Everyone mocks me. 8For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, “Violence and destruction!” because the LORD’s word has been made a reproach to me, and a derision, all day. 9If I say that I will not make mention of him, or speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary with holding it in. I can’t. 10For I have heard the defaming of many: “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.” 11But the LORD is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they won’t prevail. They will be utterly disappointed because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which will never be forgotten. 12But the LORD of Armies, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my cause to you. 13Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD, for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers. 14Cursed is the day in which I was born. Don’t let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed. 15Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying, “A boy is born to you,” making him very glad. 16Let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and didn’t repent. Let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime, 17because he didn’t kill me from the womb. So my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great. 18Why did I come out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

After Jeremiah is beaten and put in the stocks for his faithful prophesying, he pours out an anguished lament, yet in the midst of it he confesses that God's word is like a fire he cannot hold in. When he resolves to speak no more in God's name, to spare himself the mockery and pain, he finds he cannot. If I say I will not make mention of him, he says, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. The word of God within him was like a fire that could not be contained; try as he might to hold it in, it burned to be spoken. This reveals the power of God's word at work in a person: it is a fire that will not be held in. God's word in Jeremiah was a fire he could not hold in. The word of God burns to be spoken; it will not be contained. God's word at work is like a fire in the bones. The word of God cannot finally be held in.

Notice the image Jeremiah gives amid his anguish: God's word as a fire shut up in his bones. His suffering was real; he had been beaten and mocked for speaking God's word, and he wished at times to stop, to say no more in God's name and spare himself. But he found he could not. The word of God within him was like a fire, burning in his heart and bones, so that holding it in wearied him and he could not keep silent. This tells us something about the word of God at work in a person: it is not a dead letter but a living fire, something that presses to be spoken, that will not finally be contained. When God's word truly takes hold in us, it burns to come out, to be spoken and lived. Even amid suffering and the temptation to fall silent, the word of God is a fire that will not be held in. This is both a comfort and a summons: that God's word is powerfully alive, and that we may find it burning in us to be spoken. The word of God is a living fire, not a dead letter. God's word at work in us burns to be spoken. When God's word takes hold, it will not be silenced. The living word of God presses to come out.

That is worth taking to heart, for the word of God at work in a person is a fire that will not be held in, as Jeremiah, though he wished to fall silent under suffering, found God's word a burning fire shut up in his bones. We can imagine God's word to be a dead letter, something we can take up or set aside at will; but Jeremiah found it a living fire that could not be contained, that burned to be spoken even when speaking cost him dearly. When God's word truly takes hold, it will not finally be silenced. Let God's word be a living fire in you, that presses to be spoken and lived, as it was in Jeremiah. Take to heart that the word of God at work in a person is a living fire that will not be held in, as Jeremiah, beaten and mocked for his faithful prophesying and tempted to say no more in God's name, found that when he resolved to keep silent there was in his heart as it were a burning fire shut up in his bones, so that he was weary with holding it in and could not; for God's word is not a dead letter to be taken up or set aside at will, but a living fire that presses to be spoken and will not finally be contained or silenced, even amid suffering, so that when God's word truly takes hold in us we may find it burning to come out, to be spoken and lived, and we do well to let it be the living fire in us that it was in Jeremiah.

Lord, after Jeremiah is beaten and put in the stocks for his faithful prophesying, he pours out an anguished lament, yet in the midst of it he confesses that your word is like a fire he cannot hold in. When he resolves to speak no more in your name, to spare himself the mockery and pain, he finds he cannot. If I say I will not make mention of him, he says, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. Your word within him was like a fire that could not be contained; try as he might to hold it in, it burned to be spoken. This reveals how your word works in a person: it is a fire that will not be held in. Show me the image Jeremiah gives amid his anguish: your word as a fire shut up in his bones. His suffering was real; he had been beaten and mocked for speaking your word, and he wished at times to stop. But he found he could not. Your word within him was like a fire, burning in his heart and bones, so that holding it in wearied him and he could not keep silent. This tells me that your word is not a dead letter but a living fire, something that presses to be spoken, that will not finally be contained. When your word truly takes hold in me, it burns to come out, to be spoken and lived. Take that to my heart, for your word at work in a person is a fire that will not be held in. I can imagine your word to be a dead letter, something I can take up or set aside at will; but Jeremiah found it a living fire that could not be contained. Let your word be a living fire in me, Lord, that presses to be spoken and lived, as it was in Jeremiah, so that when your word takes hold in me it will not be silenced but burns to come out, to be spoken and lived.