Articles
Fire in the Bones
"O LORD, you have deceived me and I was deceived;
You have overcome me and prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long;
Everyone mocks me.
For each time I speak, I cry aloud;
I proclaim violence and destruction,
Because for me the word of the LORD has resulted
In reproach and derision all day long.
But if I say, 'I will not remember him
Or speak anymore in his name,'
Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
And I am weary of holding it in,
And I cannot endure it." (Jer 20:7-9)
Jeremiah's words here are shocking at first glance. In 20:7, he outright accuses God of deceiving him! The NT writers affirmed that it was impossible for God to lie (Tit 1:2; Heb 6:18), but Jeremiah accuses the God of truth of deceiving him. Such language is harsh and hyperbolic. Some might even argue that Jeremiah goes "too far" in his lamentation here—"too far" in his complaint directed at the Lord! Can such show of emotion be justified?
It is obvious, of course, that Jeremiah does not really believe that God is a deceiver. Otherwise, he would not continue to prophesy for God! But Jeremiah is deeply upset at the persecution and ridicule that he is suffering as a servant of God. It is helpful to explore why.
At the beginning of his ministry, God had told Jeremiah, "I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant" (Jer 1:10). Again God had said, "I have made you today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you" (Jer 1:18-19). Those promises of God made it sound like Jeremiah would be a conqueror, perhaps in the vein of Psalm 2, where God promised to give his anointed the nations as an inheritance!
Yet in Jeremiah 20, Jeremiah is beaten and put in stocks for prophesying (Jer 20:1-2). While it is difficult to figure out the chronology of various statements in the book, Jeremiah's lament starting from 20:7 appears to be in response to this situation. It is as if the prophet is saying, "You tricked me! I wasn't prepared for this! You said no one would be able to overcome me (1:19), and yet I am overcome (20:7)!" Where is the conquest? Where is the victory? Where is the deliverance? Are the promises of God for naught?
It turns out that every time Jeremiah prophesied, he got reproach and derision. His message was terribly unpopular. He had little positive to say about the situation in Judah and Jerusalem. He was constantly naysaying the popular prophets of the day by undercutting their "encouraging" messages of deliverance from Babylon. Jeremiah claimed that the nation was doomed because of their lack of repentance. The exile would be long, not short. Zedekiah should surrender instead of fighting. The nation should serve Nebuchadnezzar instead of resisting him. These blatantly unpatriotic and unsupportive messages were things the people didn't want to hear, and Jeremiah suffered for saying them.
Did the prophet lose hope in God? Did he abandon his trust in the Lord? Did he just walk away from the proclamation of the God who he claimed "deceived" him? Certainly not! Jeremiah himself implies that he had considered this option, and been unable to follow through on it. Every time he decided not to speak in the name of Yahweh, the word became a raging fire in his bones that he could not contain. In the end, the truth of the message overpowered the suffering of the prophet. In the end, he knew that God was not deceiving the people and not deceiving him either. The word unspoken and the truth unuttered would become a raging fire inside of him that would destroy him. He had to let it out! He would not be able to live with his silence!
In the same way, may the word of God be a raging fire in our bones, that will compel us to speak his truth, even when it is at its most unpopular.
