"So, we see that other people in the Bible had doubts. Jeremiah was not the only one. Many people think that Jeremiah is special. They think that he was the greatest *prophet in the Old Testament (the first part of the Bible). His messages had special value in two ways. First, he understood how very great God is. His messages to the people show this.
Then there is his personal life of prayer. The passages about this have a name. They are ‘The Confessions of Jeremiah’ (what he confessed). These passages need special study. They are: Jeremiah 11:18-23; 12:1-6; 15:10-21; 17:9-10, 14-18; 18:18-23 and 20:7-18. Here, he is not standing in front of the people.
No, he is on his knees in front of God. He is crying out to God in awful pain and despair. He cannot understand his suffering. His messages are a failure. Then, worst of all, God himself does not seem to care about him. In these passages, Jeremiah seems very real. They show a loyal man of God. He was in a powerful struggle with his enemies. There were enemies both inside and outside himself. When he had talked with God, he could speak to the people. He could give strong messages from God, without fear.
God called him to a very difficult task. He had a hard message to give. He had to declare it very clearly. He must tell his people that punishment would come soon (1:14-17). He realised just how awful that punishment would be. This was because of his type of character. Things affected him very much. He also had a strong imagination. (Read 4:19-31.) He saw clearly things that were going to happen soon. It was just as if he was reporting events as they happened.
The *prophet’s message was not popular. The society that he gave it to was content. The people were happy with things as they were. They felt that their religion made them safe. This made his task much harder.
There were many false *prophets at that time. The people liked them. The false *prophets said that there was nothing wrong. So there was no reason for the people to be anxious. (Read Jeremiah 5:11-14, 30-31 and 6:13-14.) God’s people tried to make themselves feel better too. The ceremonies of their religion made them feel safe. They did not understand an important fact. It is this. If there is no true love for God, ceremonies have no meaning.
H. L. Ellison is a writer. He wrote a book about the *prophets. Its title is: ‘Men Spoke from God’. He shows how much the people were trusting in things. They trusted in:
· the *Temple (Jeremiah 7:1-4)
· *sacrifices (Jeremiah 7:21-22)
· the *Holy Box (Jeremiah 3:16)
· *circumcision (Jeremiah 9:25, 26)
· the *Law (Jeremiah 8:8, 9. Read Exodus 20.)
All these things were very important. But something could make them of no use at all. It was a lack of love for God and other people (Jeremiah 7:5-6).
So, Jeremiah had a very hard task. He did not want to do it (1:6-8; 20:7-10). I have given a brief account of the nation’s *spiritual state. This makes it easier to understand the *prophet’s problems.
But we will now study one part of his trouble. Jeremiah had the problem of doubt.
1 Jeremiah suffered much pain and despair
He never doubted that God was real. But at times he seemed to doubt the *sovereignty of God. God had called him into his service. At times, he seemed to feel that God was unfair. It was unfair of God to call him into his service (20:7-8). He wished that he had never come into the world. This happened more than once (15:10; 20:14-18).
This shows that he did not understand how God rules over people. God’s rule involves practical things. It also has *spiritual importance. At times, Jeremiah had a glimpse of these great truths. One f these times is in 17:12. The *prophet speaks about God’s throne (king’s special chair).
Someone may doubt that God exists. Then something else has usually happened first. That person may have had other serious doubts. The doubts have been about what God is like. They may have been about how God acts. The person may have asked, ‘Why does this trouble happen to me?’ This is a natural question. But it can lead him to doubt God’s *sovereignty. He may ask if God is really ruling.
We must turn to the Bible for immediate help. It will stop doubt when it begins. If we fail to do this, the devil will use our lack of certainty. He will use it to take away all our certainties. We will doubt God’s *sovereignty. We will also even doubt that God exists. We begin with: ‘Perhaps God does not really care.’ We end with: ‘Perhaps God is not really there.’
So, we must put our confidence in God’s Word, the Bible. ‘Our *Lord God rules. He is All-Powerful.’ (Read Revelation 19:6.) Here is a wonderful fact. This fact does not change. It comforts us. It remains true whatever happens. It remains true whatever I feel like. God has not stopped being king. The events in my life are not just accidents. God rules! Things do not happen by chance.
We must notice something else.
2 Doubt is often not the only problem
We must be honest about this. Doubt often comes when we have let other matters control our lives. This means that we have lost our trust in God’s *sovereignty. So, the difficulties in life seem to be very great. Then we begin to doubt God’s love. We may even doubt that he exists.
This happened in Jeremiah’s life. At the beginning of his work for God, he was very brave. He accused the people of turning away from God. God was like ‘a supply of fresh water’ (2:13). Now, he is feeling full of despair. He cries to God. He says: ‘*Lord, I think that you have changed. You are like a supply of water that became dry. So it stopped’ (15:18). Maybe there were some serious weaknesses in the *prophet’s *spiritual life. These things would allow doubts to enter his mind. They would lead to a lack of certainty. ts to enter his mind. They would lead to a lack of certainty.
2.1 He felt disappointed
His work for God seemed to be a complete failure. (Read 7:25-28 and 13:15-17.) He would have been so happy if people had returned to the *Lord. But this did not happen.
There is an important lesson for us here. God may give us some work to do for him. We must be loyal and continue the work whatever happens. This is more important than success. When results are most important to us, we are in danger. We can stop wanting to bring honour to God. We can start trying to prove our own worth instead.
2.2 He felt bitter
This often follows on from disappointment. God has not worked in the way that we hoped or planned. Jeremiah felt like this (20:7-8).
2.3 He felt pity for himself
This was the next wrong thing. The *prophet felt very miserable. Nobody seemed to know or care about his feelings. He was very, very lonely. (Read 15:17-18; 16:2-9.) He suffered more stress than most of us will ever have. Perhaps this stress caused his character to become weaker.
It was a terrible time for the *prophet. But he went back to have true *faith in God. He realised that God could supply all his needs. His experience can help us. We may have doubts too. We might have a similar difficulty. There are things that we can do. The *prophet’s experience shows important truths. We will now study these.
Like Jeremiah, we must:
3 Allow God to examine and show us all parts of our lives
(Jeremiah 12:3; 15:19 and 17:9-10 are important here.) All Jeremiah’s thoughts were about the nation. He had no fear as he spoke about their lack of reality. He forgot that he must be completely sincere in his own life.
The *prophet was concentrating on the people’s ‘return’ to God. But God said to him: ‘If you return, then you can serve me’ (15:4). Jeremiah was full of pain and despair. God comes to him. He reminds the *prophet about his job. He must help people to change. He must not change and become like the people (15:19b).
We need something else too. We should be ready to:
4 Remember God’s great promises in the past
Read Jeremiah 15:20 with 1:18, 19.) God had spoken some great words to Jeremiah. He did this at the beginning of the *prophet’s work. Jeremiah’s job was going to be very hard. But God encouraged him. Later, Jeremiah had doubts. He was suffering very much. Then God spoke the same words to him again.
You may have forgotten a great promise of God. It helped you very much in the past. So, listen to the same Bible words again. Trust his great promises. He will give you strength and protection. Best of all, God himself will always be with you.
When we have doubts, we should do something else too. We should:
5 Trust God completely, whatever our feelings may be
(We may feel that God has gone away from us.) At first, this is a matter of discipline. Read Jeremiah 17:5-13. Here Jeremiah realises something. He sees that it is foolish to go to anyone else for help. Do not let your heart go away from the *Lord. This is how Jeremiah would say it. You might feel that God has left you. But he has not. Let your hope be in the *Lord (17:7). Your life may be hard. Then look to him (17:8). Trust in his promises. They do not change. (Read 1 Peter 1:4; Joshua 21:45; 23:14; 1 Kings 8:56 and Numbers 23:19.)
Then we must:
6 Recognise again the *sovereignty of God
(Read Jeremiah 17:12.) Perhaps your life is not what you wanted it to be. But what God wants is always best. Remember Romans 8:28. Something happens when we recognise his *sovereignty. We are sure about God again (17:13). Jeremiah had stopped believing and trusting God. Now he starts to trust God again. The *Lord really is like ‘a supply of fresh water’. (Read Jeremiah 15:18 and 2:13.) God is not like ‘the supply that became dry. So it stopped.’
When you have doubts, you must:
7 Continue to pray
You must do this even when you do not feel like it. You may not be sure that prayer is worthwhile. But you must still pray. This is the great thing about Jeremiah. Even at his worst times, he continued to pray. Sometimes it seemed that he only complained to God. But he continued to pray. Nothing stopped him. (Read Jeremiah 12:1-3; 15:15; 17:14 and 20:7-12.) Jeremiah prayed clearly and in an honest way.
Often, we are sad about our difficulties, problems and doubts. But we keep our feelings out of our prayers. Then these things become like a wall between us and God. Someone has said: ‘To deal with doubt you must let it get out!’
Believe that a better time will come. You will be able to believe God again. Until that time, prove the worth of the faith that you once had. We can all know that God will never leave us.
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