Today's Bible Reading: JEREMIAH 19:1-20:18; DANIEL 1:1-21
Jeremiah 20:9
If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name, “there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
Sometimes we have something that we need to tell. We try to hold it in, but we just gotta tell someone about it. We can’t hold back or hold it in. It might be the birth of a child or a grandchild, a letter of acceptance into a school or a prestigious program, getting that great job or purchasing a new vehicle. Regardless of what it is, you want to publish it, post it and proclaim it to everyone. You gotta let it out.
Jeremiah had the same feeling. There was something that he was compelled to communicate. He says it was like “a burning fire shut up in my bones.” It was gnawing at him. He says he was “weary with holding it in.” He couldn’t keep it in or hold it to himself. It was a message that everyone needed to hear.
The prophet’s situation was sticky. He was told by God to proclaim His message of the coming catastrophe to some priests and elders in a very dramatic way (Jer 19:1-9). For his actions, Jeremiah was taken and beaten, then put in stocks overnight by the house of the Lord so all could see his condition. (Jer 20:1-3). Upon His release, he without hesitation spoke again the message of doom and destruction that the Lord had given him to proclaim.
At this point Jeremiah was frustrated with what had occurred. He was discouraged and disillusioned with what God had allowed to happen. So he began voicing his complaint to the Lord. Our text is situated in the middle of his rant. But what is intriguing about it is his self-talk in the midst of his venting. He wants to complain about being God’s messenger of doom, but finds himself saying that God’s word in no way, form, or fashion could be contained within him. He says God’s word was in his heart “like a burning fire shut up in my bones”. He found that he couldn’t complain about what he was complicit in doing.
It was no longer his sovereign directing him to speak, but his self that was driving him to speak. He states, “I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.” God’s word had become so real and relevant to him that he had to announce it to his audience. He couldn’t hold back. God had told him what to say, but now he wanted to say it. God’s message had become his message. What was in his heart had to be heard. His heart had become “a hot heart” for God. As such, he would not be silenced by the stocks or the sneers of the people, but stood and proclaim it in spite of the reducible he had experienced.
We need to be like him. We need to speak God’s word to a wayward world, not just because he tells us to do so. Instead, His word must be embedded in our hearts like “a burning fire shut up in (our) bones”, so much so that we become “weary with holding it in”. We cannot and must not be silenced or suppressed. We need to have “hot hearts” to share the good news of the gospel with everyone everywhere.
Today thank God for the "hot heart" of Jeremiah. Ask the Lord to help you have that kind of heart that is burning with a desire to share the gospel, one that makes you "weary with holding it in and you cannot." Ask the Lord to help you not back down from proclaim His word when people tell you "not to mention him, or speak any more in his name". Ask Him to help you maintain a Hot Heart for Him.
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