An exposition of Jeremiah 20:1-18. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, April 27, 2008.
We have before us here a troubling, disturbing passage. It opens with Jeremiah strong and confident, and ends with Jeremiah bemoaning the day he was born. Is Jeremiah unbalanced, in need of psychiatric help? No, he is just being honest. He is acting exactly as we do as Christians today: ready to charge hell with a water pistol one day, and afraid of our own shadows the next.
From this passage note that genuine faith often waivers between emboldened confidence and debilitating discouragement.
- Note in verses 1-6 that Jeremiah is strong and determined in the face of hardship, and then,
- in verses 7-18 Jeremiah is frightened, confused, angry, discouraged, and yet faithful.
Why do any of us come into this world? We exist to spend our days, to give our lives to the glory of God.