S167P3 – Sources of joy: his word

Jer. 15:15-16

O LORD, You know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.  In Your enduring patience, do not take me away.  Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.  Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.

Jeremiah had been given a pretty tough job.  His fellow Israelites in the southern kingdom of Judah once again had turned from the Lord and begun to practice the evil ways of the neighboring nations.  It was the classic story of the children of God desiring to be like the world when they should have known better.  The words that God gave Jeremiah to speak to these people, who were his brethren, his family and friends, were words of judgment.  These prophetic statements he spoke to try to bring those people to repentance and spare them caused them to plot to kill him on more than one occasion.  Even so, Jeremiah considered it a joy to hear those words from God and to be given the privilege to prophesy them.

I find it rather profound for Jeremiah to make this statement when we consider that God told him more than once not to pray for Judah but simply to prophesy these words of judgment.  Most of what he spoke seems to be words of doom and gloom, but Jeremiah understood the greater purpose here.  It is the same purpose behind the words we speak when we warn unbelievers of the danger of staying on that course.  We do not speak to them of repentance or of judgment in order to condemn them.  The hope is that these words bring them conviction and to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  I think Jeremiah understood clearly that this prophecy of judgment was rooted in God’s desire not to destroy his children but to bring them back to him.

It is easy to find joy in the sweet words of the Lord.  When we read his spoken word or hear a prophecy that talks of prosperity or encouragement, it makes us happy.  We might not feel the same when we hear God’s words of rebuke and correction, but those messages also should bring us joy if we understand their purpose.  God does not speak or move in order to chase us away but to draw us nearer.  He wants to raise up the lowly and humble.  He wants to sanctify his children.  Whether we hear the difficult words or have to speak them, our joy must be found in their good purpose.  Father, give us hearts like Jeremiah’s, to love every word which falls from your lips and to find joy in what You have planned for them to accomplish.