Jeremiah, The Weeping Prophet

 
Jeremiah - by Michelangelo - The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), 

distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. ISBN: 3936122202., Public Domain

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. (Jeremiah 5:1 KJV)

Five chapters in, out of 52 - not really ten percent, and I can understand from this one verse why Jeremiah was called The Weeping Prophet. He had a message from God to the people of his nation - a previously divided nation that broke into two separate pieces. He knew the truth of God as well as the stubborness of his countrymen. The Lord knew it, too, and mentioned it to Moses:

And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: (Exodus 32:9 KJV)

Eleven uses later in the Bible, we again read "stiffnecked" when Stephen faces those who will not listen:

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. (Acts 7:51 KJV)

May I explain that stiffneckness is not confined to any single segment of humanity? At any given time, that could be applied to me. But Jeremiah wrote God's words, not his own when he used the term:

But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction. (Jeremiah 17:23 KJV)

We do not listen, we do not hear, we do not read what prophets have told us. Peter mentioned this:

For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. (Acts 3:22-23 KJV)

Humans are no different today from many of the people who faced Moses, Jeremiah, Stephen, and Peter, not only ignoring their message, but never anticipating consequences. 

This past week I visited with a Pastor I met over two decades ago as a new Youth Minister. This time we both lamented over another young man (Dubgee) who followed a possible path of growth sharing God's message. Then, it was if Paul's experience was repeated:

For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, (2 Timothy 4:10a KJV)

Even while serving congregations, Dubgee loved this present world, and it's attention. In many ways, most of us do, giving in to touches of attention, a bit of envy, a desire for something "different" that we can't find the right words to explain. Leaving his Pastoral obligations, this present world offered positions where people paid attention, gave accolades, and a moneyed future was presented as possible. 

Paul doesn't describe Demas' present world, but leaving God's work does present problems -  and a descent that can be described in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Dubgee ignored what he earlier gave as sermons to a congregation. Today, in his present world, he no longer has steady employment, a home of his own, his wife, nor his children. Consequenses for moving from a relationship with Jesus as savior was described by Peter as:

For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. (Acts 8:23 KJV)

Pray for those who, as people did millenia ago and still do today, ignore God's instructions and the consequences for doing so. Listen to the men sent to share God's instructive love that can keep us on the narrow way to the strait gate. The way may seem winding and slow to us, but the consequences of remaining faith filled are God's promises of eternal life in an eternal home. Otherwise, He will not force anyone to keep them from their consequences - eternal separation from Himself and His love.

The choice is available every day of life. As Jeremiah and Jesus did, we weep and lament:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! (Matthew 23:37 KJV)