Jeremiah’s service as a prophet began about a century after Isaiah, and perhaps ten years later than the start of Ezekiel’s ministry. Jeremiah was quite young at the time of his call. He objected, at first: “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy” (Jeremiah 1:6). Yet God was not dissuaded by Jeremiah’s effort to avoid his prophetic call: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (1:5). And “I have put my words in your mouth” (1:9).

And so with visions (1:11-13) and with words (1:14-16) God would reveal the message to Jeremiah, and Jeremiah would have to deliver it to the people and to the nations, without holding back (1:17-18), despite the fact that he would face strong opposition (1:19).

Thus Jeremiah began to preach, and the message was not pretty. We have forsaken the Lord our God, Jeremiah declared; there is no longer any reverence for the Lord in us (2:19). We claim to be innocent; we are confident that God can not possibly be angry with us; whatever our problems may be, it can’t be that we have sinned (2:35). God’s plan was to set us in a pleasant land and to let us enjoy a beautiful heritage, Jeremiah insisted: he proclaimed the word of the Lord that said, “I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me” (3:19). Yet after all our sins – sins of indifference, self-righteousness, and idolatry – God nevertheless calls us to return, that our faithlessness may be healed (3:22): “Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the Lord your God” (3:13).

And in the midst of this, we go on from day to day ignoring the Lord, doing whatever we please. Then, when an emergency arises, we call on God for help, and get angry – with a real sense of entitlement – when God doesn’t jump right up to answer our prayers and do our bidding. But God is not impressed by our whining: “Why do you complain against me? You have all rebelled against me” (Jeremiah 2:29).

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Ah Lord God! Like our ancestors long ago we are slow to seek your will, and then quick to blame you if you don’t give us what we want. In our indifference we figure we are probably good enough. Yet you want us to be truly good: and we are so far from that. And even so you forgive us, as soon as we acknowledge our need of you: truly your faithfulness and mercy are higher than the heavens!