Take A Stand
“Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 1:8
Prophet Jeremiah was a sensitive, caring individual intent on doing the will of God no matter what it cost him, and it cost him plenty.
No matter what the cost was, Jeremiah came down on God’s side. He said, “His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones.”
He spoke boldly and without consideration of who would be displeased at what he said.
Jeremiah was called by God to be a spokesman, calling God’s people back to Himself. And when they refused to budge, Jeremiah told them the price they had to pay. He became a hated, despised individual, persecuted and belittled. He was thrown into prison, put in stocks, even thrown in a tar pit and left to die; but a foreigner, an Ethiopian, rescued him from the clutches of death. Jeremiah 38.
Contemporary with Jeremiah were voices such as Ezekiel and Daniel, both young men. Ezekiel, a fellow priest, was preaching in Babylon. Daniel was in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar. Habakkuk and Zephaniah were working alongside Jeremiah in Jerusalem. Nahum was announcing the fall of Nineveh, and Obadiah was predicting the ruin of neighbouring Edom.
What does this have to do with us today? Are there qualities in the life of this man that we ought to emulate? Have we become so intimidated by what is happening around us that we fear the consequences of speaking out against the vile corruption of our day?
Have we become so fearful of the hostility of those who accuse us of being intolerant that we hide for fear of drawing their wrath?
There is one thing which we must never forget. The God who told Jeremiah not to fear because He was with Him makes that same promise to His child who has the courage to denounce wrong when the truth is on the scaffold.
The darker our society gets, the greater the need for a Jeremiah to stand up and be counted to say, “This is right, and this is wrong.”