Jeremiah 15:17-18

Jeremiah 15:17-18. "I (Jeremiah) never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation. Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? You are to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails."


Jeremiah expresses frustrations in his conversation with God here. God had chosen him as His prophet, Jeremiah delighted in getting to know God's Word and suffered willingly for a long time because there was joy in his heart. However, for some time now as things started to unravel for Judah and the false prophets were talking about a god who is coming to save Judah and Israel again. Jeremiah in contrast, speaks about captivity, famine, swords, and death.

So Jeremiah is emotional and expressing to God verses 17 and 18. In 17 Jeremiah talks about his obedience to God's call and what sacrifices he made. He is enduring much rejection and affliction from others. His heart starts to rebel against God. In 18 Jeremiah says his wound is too big for God to heal... and that God is a mirage, a fake not reliable to refresh. So God being a "Spring of living water" (in chapter 2 verse 13) has now become a "deceptive brook."

Under affliction of spiritual doubt, Jeremiah temperamentally lashed out at God because Judah has abandoned his prophesying. Yet God is good to reply to Jeremiah amid his sinning. In Jer 15:19 God asks for Jeremiah to repent and return to Him. His words have become "worthless" and "not noble". God makes Jeremiah see that it is for Judah to return to him and not him to conform to Judah. After this instruction and insight, God gracefully reassures the prophet that He is with him in Verse 20.

In my life, God has allowed me the trial of facing debt. Up until now, I have tried to ignore it. However, this enslavement has been heavy on my thoughts provoking worry and anxiety. This condition of living, this enslavement has stumbled my walk with the Lord. I don't see God as He really is: sovereign in allowing this debt to shape me. God is saying "Trust me." and I'm like "but this... but that -get this monkey off my back."

So what I did in response to the severity of my debt was to launch into a fast. I was desperate for God to show up and I was desperate for some action. So I forced this sacrifice upon me without preparation. The next morning I skipped all food and went to work. Instantly I was afflicted with a down-cast irritability so severe it was apparent on my face. People didn't approaching me, friends were asking if I was ok. My stomach was in knots and a pounding headache was hitting me hard. Suddenly I remember this passage of Scripture I read that morning, and how Jeremiah was wrong. -Totally incorrect in approaching God and belittling Him and casting doubt upon God instead of trust.

I decided that my fast was a "sacrifice" ahead of "giving my heart" to God about this. Like Jeremiah I felt God asking me to repent from my thinking/doubt/panic. God showed me that I needed His grace more than my own understanding or doing a fast. He was asking me to trust him and before fasting. So in remembering this passage, at my first break I ate some food and had some coffee. All the physical blockage was lifted and I was a joyful servant at work. People looked at me strangely, but I praise God because He used Scripture to talk me into the way He would have me go.