Jeremiah 15:15-18 – Life without hypocrisy

Jeremiah was struggling with a dilemma in chapter 15:15-18. He had been doing everything as instructed by God, yet had to face so much resistance from the people he was ministering to, even threats of death. So in verse 15, he prayed to ask God to protect him from his persecutors and to avenge him. His dilemma was that God seemed to be patient with the people. So in his plea to God to vindicate him, he was praying that God would not sacrifice him at the expanse of His patience with the people.

Jeremiah appealed to God on the ground that he had been a faithful representative of His Word. He said that when the word of God was found (this could be a reference to the law that was discovered in the temple during King Josiah’s reform), he gladly devoured them and found deep joy. So he rejoiced and delighted himself in the calling that God had placed his life.

Having received God’s calling on him, verse 17 shows us that he took on the assignment to reveal the truth to the people seriously. He refused to patronize his hearers nor to promulgate levity. He proclaimed nothing but God’s severe warning. So identified was he with God that His anger also consumed him. Hence even the people could feel his anger as well. The people did not take to his message, so they persecuted him instead. The suffering he bore was intense, and he seemed to be enduring wounds that refused to heal.

We can see that Jeremiah was a human and not a psychopath and was subjected to discouragement. So in his despair, he wondered why he had to go through so much to do His assignment. Feeling that God had failed him, he honestly expressed how he felt inside him. He thought God was like a deceptive stream that promised water but yield nothing because it had no water. What audacity? How to explain his irreverence?

Being all-knowing God was certainly fully aware of the prophet’s predicament. He also knew how faithful Jeremiah had been in carrying out his assignment. It would not be over-extrapolating to imagine that God also knew his pains and suffering because the truth is that God is all-knowing. We can also be sure that God knows everything about us. As Psalm 139:1-4 say, God has searched us and knows everything about us. He knows our character, conduct, contemplation, and even our conversation. He has the capacity to take our honesty. Psalm 103:14 says that God “…knows our frame and He is mindful that we are but dust.” In life, it is better to be honest with God than to pretend that we enjoy suffering when we are not. Pretending to enjoy something when we are not, is downright hypocrisy. God would rather that we be honest with our feeling than live life with pretence. We sense the call of God to live life with honesty and sincerity.