God's Man Got God's Protection

‘Now it happened, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You will surely die!”’ –Jeremiah 26:8

Have you ever found yourself in perfect obedience to the Lord, yet people still want to kill you (or at least drive you out of town)? Jeremiah faithfully proclaimed God’s Word to the people exactly the way God wanted Him to, yet the people went off the deep end because the word that Jeremiah spoke was against their city. It wasn’t the word that they wanted to hear. Jeremiah found himself taken by an angry mob of people just for obeying the Lord.

I believe that the people were angry because Jeremiah’s words uncovered the sinfulness of their hearts. Jeremiah showed that the people didn’t love God. They loved their city. They had a great big idol that they worshiped. Jeremiah uncovered the ugly reality of this idol. He showed that it was putrid to the Lord, and that the Lord was going to take it all away. The people got angry because the Lord was going to take away what they loved. He was going to take away their object of worship.

When we faithfully proclaim all the words that God wants us to proclaim, we will undoubtedly confront sinful, idolatrous people. The word of God is…a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. God reveals man’s sinfulness through His word. For most people, their perverted pride makes them angry when they are confronted with sin. They don’t like to hear that their lifestyles are sinful and that the Lord opposes them. But that is exactly what they need to hear.

Jeremiah’s people were angry because of this word from the Lord. But they realized that the word was from the Lord and they didn’t kill Jeremiah. Truly the Lord protected Jeremiah through this situation, and caused the people to see their sin for what it was. Jeremiah’s responsibility was to faithfully proclaim the Lord. God would protect him, and He did.

Jeremiah is an example to us ministers to faithfully proclaim all the words that God has given us to proclaim, regardless of what sin it might uncover. May God use His word as He sees fit, and grant us divine protection in the process!