Good Morning Friends,
“O Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous
and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I
have committed my cause. Sing to the Lord! Give praise to the Lord. He rescues
the life of the needy from the hands of wicked men.” (Jeremiah 20:12-13)
Jeremiah served the Lord with his whole life. God
had commissioned him to bring His message to the people of Israel. The message
God asked Jeremiah to bring was not a message the people of Israel wanted to
hear. They responded in ways that made Jeremiah’s life miserable. They didn’t
listen to him, rejecting the counsel he brought them from the Lord. They mocked
and ridiculed him. They persecuted him. Jeremiah paid a high price for doing
what God wanted him to do. His life was not what he would have dreamed of when
he was a young man!
How do you respond when people do not respond
well to you? Not everyone responds well to us – that’s always true when we
represent the Lord. Some people just ignore us and don’t want to hear what we
say about the Lord. Others mock and ridicule us. They say we “need a crutch” or
that we are religious fanatics. For some, the response gets even more negative.
Our faith may cost us our jobs, our friends, it could even cost our lives. There
are places around the world where people respond to the message of the Gospel
by persecuting and killing the messengers!
How do you respond when people do not respond
well to you?
Jeremiah responded by turning the situation
over to the Lord. In other words, he didn’t respond. He didn’t fight back. He
didn’t try to defend himself. He didn’t strike out to hurt those who were
hurting him. He asked the Lord to be his defender. He asked the Lord to provide
whatever response was needed. Instead of striking back at those who hurt him,
he turned in praise to the Lord!
Now that’s a powerful example for us!
His, by Grace, Steve
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