Jeremiah 18:18-23: a reflection

18Then they said, “Come! Let’s devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law won’t perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let’s strike him with the tongue, and let’s not give heed to any of his words.” 19Give heed to me, LORD, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me. 20Should evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them. 21Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widows. Let their men be killed and their young men struck by the sword in battle. 22Let a cry be heard from their houses when you bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me and hidden snares for my feet. 23Yet, LORD, you know all their counsel against me to kill me. Don’t forgive their iniquity. Don’t blot out their sin from your sight, Let them be overthrown before you. Deal with them in the time of your anger.

When his enemies plot to destroy him, Jeremiah pours out a raw and anguished prayer. They have dug a pit for my soul, he cries, though he had stood before God to speak good on their behalf. And then his prayer turns fierce, calling down judgment on those who sought his life, holding nothing of his hurt and anger back. It is a hard prayer to read, one of the raw, imprecatory cries of Scripture, where a wounded servant of God lays even his fury before the Lord.

Notice what Jeremiah does with his anger and hurt: he brings it to God. He does not take vengeance into his own hands; he pours out his rawest feelings, even his desire for his enemies' downfall, before the Lord, entrusting the matter to God's justice rather than acting on it himself. However fierce his words, they are addressed to God, laid at his feet, handed over to the One who judges rightly. The prayer is raw, but it is still a prayer, a turning to God with everything, even the ugliest of feelings.

That is instructive, even as the gospel calls us further, to love and pray for our enemies. When we are deeply wronged, and anger and even the desire for revenge rise in us, the honest thing is not to pretend we do not feel them, nor to act on them, but to bring them to God, as Jeremiah did. God can handle our rawest feelings; better to pour out our anger before him, entrusting justice to him, than to bury it or to take vengeance ourselves. When you are wronged and anger burns, do not act on it, and do not hide it. Bring it honestly to God, lay even your fury at his feet, and entrust the matter to his justice, asking him, in time, to give you the grace to move toward the harder work of forgiveness.

Lord, when his enemies plotted to destroy him, Jeremiah poured out a raw and anguished prayer, holding nothing of his hurt and anger back, but laying even his fury before you rather than taking vengeance himself. Teach me to do the same with my own anger and hurt. When I am deeply wronged, keep me from pretending I feel nothing, and from acting on my desire for revenge. Help me instead to bring my rawest feelings to you, to pour out even my anger before you, entrusting justice to your hands rather than taking it into mine. You can handle my ugliest feelings; better to lay them at your feet than to bury them or act on them. And in time, give me the grace to move toward forgiveness, as you have forgiven me.