The weeping prophet – Jeremiah
I love reading the Book of Jeremiah and studying this amazing man of God who I believe was called to do one of the most difficult ministries in all the Bible. He was asked to preach to a people, the children of Israel, who would not heed what he said….
This amazing young man called at a very young age by God to speak as a prophet, in his early teens, was compassionate but would not compromise. Jeremiah was also the only man in the Bible who was told not to marry, Jeremiah 16:2.
But more importantly Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet, the prophet of the broken heart.
Jer 9:1 Oh, that my head were waters, And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people!
Jer 13:17 But if you will not hear it, My soul will weep in secret for [your] pride; My eyes will weep bitterly And run down with tears, Because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
There are times that God’s Holy Spirit grabs my heart and allows me to step even closer to our Lord’s heart and sense His very real thoughts and concerns for us as a people here in Australia. I begin then to understand in a small way the man Jeremiah as he saw his people about to fall into captivity under the Babylonians due to their dishonouring of God and turning their hearts from Him.
Such was the heaviness on Jeremiah’s heart, a man whose ministry as we read, led to not one convert, yet he carried on preaching faithfully as God had called him to.
Jeremiah found the message he was proclaiming and the total disdain of God’s people to heed it so heavy that he tried at one time to resign from God’s calling. But as God’s Word was in his heart, as a burning fire shut up in my bones….and I could not….Jeremiah 20:9.
I share these thoughts and this wonderful prophet with you because our nation, Australia, is not heeding God’s message and His offer of grace. Like in the days of the Judges, Jdg 17:6 In those days [there was] no king in Israel; everyone did [what was] right in his own eyes.
What should we do if we too sense the very weight of burden for our nation Australia as Jeremiah did for Israel? We should recognize that is none other than God’s Holy Spirit moving on us as a heartfelt call to pray, to weep and to continue faithfully preaching the Gospel for our people and nation Australia.
God loves this nation and the precious people who call it home – let us pray for it like never before.