Jeremiah 4:19 NLT
"My heart, my heart-- I writhe in pain! My heart pounds within me! I cannot be still."
When I get away and spend time with God I always like to dive into scripture as well as pray. When I am reading I usually choose a book to focus on and read through. Over the last couple of weeks I have been digging into the book of Jeremiah. It always amazes me what I can learn about a person in the scriptures in just the first few chapters of a book.
When God calls Jeremiah to be a prophet, his first response is to say "No way, I'm too young". God's response is to tell him to relax and remember that I'm going with you. After Jeremiah comes to his senses and agrees God explains to him that the people of Israel and Judah have turned their backs on Him. He describes in detail how they have given up and began to worship fake idols and false gods. God equates their lack of faith, to adultery towards Him. He wants so desperately for Jeremiah to reach the people with the power of salvation in the one true God.
As God describes to Jeremiah all that is happening, he can't help but respond back. In chapter four of the book of Jeremiah we read that Jeremiah is responding to God and his first sentiment, through tears, is that he is writhing in pain knowing that the people of God have turned their backs on the Lord. He says he is WRITHING in pain knowing this fact. So much so that he can't even sit still it is hurting him so bad.
God instilled, in Jeremiah, a heart that yearns for his countrymen to come back to God, to stop turning their backs on the one true God that offers salvation. His heart isn't just aware of the fact that God's people are rejecting Him, the scripture says he is in tremendous pain knowing it. He wants desperately for them to know the salvation that only God offers. With love in his heart he wants the people of Israel and Judah to know the truth.
I believe that the book of Jeremiah is a good charge for those of us who are walking in a relationship with Jesus Christ. This book paints a picture of how God wants us to yearn for those around us to know about and walk in a relationship with Jesus. We should not be able to sit still knowing that there are people in our everyday life far from the Lord.
I want to encourage you all to think about who you can be praying for and inviting to church. Who is it in your life that is far from the Lord? Who is it that your heart is writhing for? When you think about where you work, your neighborhood or maybe even in your own family, who is it that God has called you to tell about Him?
We don't have to win the argument about who Jesus Christ is and what He's done. He did the work, He's proven who He is, but we should have a heart to share it with people. This can be done by the way pray with each other, care for each other and love those who matter to God, which is every single person that has ever lived. Our burden should be the same burden that God has, and that is for those who are far from Him to come closer and closer to a Father whose arms are always open ready to love His children.
Do we spend more time asking God what He can do for us or more time asking what we can do for Him?
Thought question: What weighs the heaviest on your heart? Do you ever pray that God would help you realize who you need to reach with love?
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