Previously, I noted some of the hardships Jeremiah faced: “The people stoned him, they threw him into a dry cistern and left him there to die, and they mocked him. This went on for forty years.” I don’t know how the prophet might have ranked the dangers and challenges he faced but I would not be surprised if #1 was God’s command to him that he would not marry and would not have children. How grievous would this news be: “The word of the Lord came to me: ‘You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place’” (16:1-2). Deadly diseases were to come upon the people, there will be great mourning, no one will be exempt from these terrible things. Rulers and judges and priests, poor and rich alike, educated and illiterate alike, all will participate in these judgments. In such a context, Jeremiah was neither to marry or have children and face the great sorrow of losing them. This, in visual form, was a warning from God to Jeremiah and all who would listen that terrible times were coming. Jeremiah would not even have a wife and a family to stand by him. The people would cry out to Jeremiah, “Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come!” (17:15) That is, “Jeremiah, you keep telling us about this evil that is to come. Where is it? We don’t see it.” The people would neither listen to the prophet’s words or consider the many pictures of judgment displayed by Jeremiah. What was Jeremiah to do? The hymn writer tells him:
Dear Refuge of my weary soul,
on Thee, when sorrows rise,
on Thee, when waves of trouble roll,
my fainting hope relies.
. . . gracious God, where shall I flee?
Thou art my only trust;
and still my soul would cleave to Thee. --Anne Steele (1760)
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