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Jeremiah, the Man Who Felt God’s Anguish
Jeremiah had hoped for a permanent reformation under Josiah.
He had been called by God to the prophetic office while still a youth.
As a member of the priesthood, Jeremiah had been trained from
childhood for holy service. In those happy years he little realized
that God had chosen him from birth to be “a prophet to the nations.”
When the divine call came, he was overwhelmed. “Ah, Lord God!”
he exclaimed, “I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
Jeremiah 1:5, 6
.
In the young Jeremiah, God saw one who would be true to his
trust and stand for the right against great opposition. In childhood he
had proved faithful, and now he was to endure hardship as a soldier
of the cross. “Do not say, ‘I am a youth.’ ... Do not be afraid of their
faces, for I am with you to deliver you.” “‘Speak to them all that I
command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, lest I dismay
you before them. For behold, I have made you this day a fortified
city and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land. ...
They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you.
For I am with you,’ says the Lord, ‘to deliver you.’”
Verses 7, 8,
17-19
.
For forty years Jeremiah would stand as a witness for truth and
righteousness. In a time of unparalleled apostasy he was to give an
example in life and character of the worship of the true God. He was
to be the mouthpiece of Jehovah. He was to predict the downfall
of the house of David and the destruction of the beautiful temple
built by Solomon. Imprisoned, despised, hated, rejected by others,
he was finally to share in the sorrow and woe that would follow the
condemned city’s destruction.
Yet Jeremiah was often permitted to look beyond the distressing
scenes of the present to the glorious future, when God’s people
would be planted again in Zion. “Their souls shall be like a well-
watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all.”
Jeremiah
31:12
. Jeremiah wrote, “The Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have put
My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the
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