Jeremiah, known as the “Weeping Prophet. Jeremiah was likely between 17 and 20 years old when he received his first call. He served through the reigns of five kings of Judah: Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. Jeremiah’s life was defined by extreme isolation and physical suffering due to his unpopular message of impending judgment. He was socially isolated as God commanded him not to marry or have children as a symbolic warning of the coming destruction, leaving him without family support. He was betrayed by his own family and the people of his hometown, Anathoth, who plotted to kill him. He was physically abused, beaten and put in stocks by Pashhur the priest. He was thrown in prison being falsely accused of desertion, beaten, and held in a dungeon for a long period. He was lowered into a muddy cistern and left to starve to death before being rescued by Ebed-melech. He experienced great emotional turmoil, he frequently expressed deep sorrow and despair, at one point cursing the day he was born (Jeremiah 20:14). He was taken against his will to Egypt by a remnant of Judeans after the assassination of the governor Gedaliah. He is believed to have died in Egypt, possibly as a martyr.
Now I don’t know about you, but this confused me. Why would God call this man from a young man to go through all of this? A powerful prophet that stood his ground against evil. Why wasn’t life a little easier for him? Maybe you haven’t thought about this. Or maybe you chose not to think about it. So how do we understand this, how do we reconcile this?
We have to change our perspective to understand this. You see we typically look at this life on earth only. When we measure we don’t calculate eternity in the equation. It’s like having a 100 foot roll up tape measure and measuring inches with it. There is so much left unrolled that you don’t see. This life is such a small part of eternity. James would write: For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away (James 4:14 KJV). When we measure according to eternity then the short time we have on this earth is miniscule. Our hope isn’t in this life anyway. Because If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable (1 Corinthians 15:19 KJV).
So when we encounter difficult times understand this, that life is temporary.
2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Romans 8:18 NHEB For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed to us.
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