Jeremiah 20:7,9,11a

‘O LORD You induced me, and I was persuaded;
You are stronger than I, and have prevailed.
I am in derision daily;
Everyone mocks me’ (Jeremiah 20:7)

Jeremiah suffered greatly for his message. God had persuaded him, and being stronger, had ‘won’. Indeed, his message led him to the stocks to be lashed. And this wasn’t his message, it was God’s. This shows us that God’s message is not easily accepted. Although we have Good News, our message is a message of repentance, which includes a recognition of being wrong. In no way is this popular. Jeremiah had to put up with daily derision. He wasn’t taken seriously. Not in the slightest. He was mocked and laughed at. Thus he says

‘Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name.”
But His word was in my heart like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And I could not.’ (Jeremiah 20:9)

The mocking and derision brought Jeremiah to the point of giving up, it was so great. Is our message this weighty? Is the Gospel such a weighty matter for us? For we can be assured, wherever we preach it faithfully, there will be opposition. Are we mocked? Or do we avoid such clashes and compromise the truth? Unless we have opposition, then we should reevaluate the message we say, because it is probably compromised. And yet never be weighed down by the message too much:

‘But the LORD is with me as a mighty, awesome One.
Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail.’ (Jeremiah 20:11a)

Though we be persecuted, we are comforted much more by the infinitely powerful and infinitely good God who is on our side.

Two things:

1) Is the message we bring truthful and faithful?

2) If we are receiving determined opposition for it, be of good cheer, for God works with us!