A Burning In The Bones
Jeremiah 20:9
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 was one of the prophets in Israel just before the Babylonian invasion. God gave him a message telling the people that because of their sins He would allow the Babylonians to destroy their city and their nation. The people hated Jeremiah for his prophesy and they ridiculed him and imprisoned him. During this time, he said he was not going to preach anymore. He was not going to even mention God’s name anymore. But he did because, as he said, he could not continue to hold the message back. It was like a fire inside him burning even the insides of his bones. He found he had a calling from God and he had to speak his prophesies and he could not stop telling the people the message. He said it made him weary to try to stop telling them God’s Word.
We read in the book of Acts where Peter and John faced the same thing. They were preaching the Gospel of Jesus and the priests and Sadducees became very angry at them. They were thrown into prison and the next day were threatened and told not to preach any more in the name of Jesus. “But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to hearken unto you rather than unto God, judge ye: for we cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard” (Acts 4:19-20). In other words, they couldn’t stop talking about Jesus and could not keep His Gospel bottled up inside themselves.
Jeremiah had the same thing Peter and John had, a fire burning inside of them that would not let them keep quiet. When you read the book of Acts you see this fire evident in the lives of the early church. They were compelled to speak out and warn people of their sins. They were desperate to tell people about the Hope of the Gospel. Paul wrote of this in Romans 1:16 - “For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation…”
Reading that it makes me wonder where that fire has gone to? Shouldn’t that fire be burning in us today? We make our churches as comfortable and as entertaining as possible, but is this fire missing? Have we covered it up with political correctness? After all, the Gospel will be offensive to many, so do we shy away from confrontations? Oh Lord, we want to tell others about you, as long as we don’t hurt their feelings while we are doing it. We’ll march in the streets to have clean air and better water, but won’t speak out about abortions and gay marriages. We’ll stand in the church foyer and tell all who will listen about the evils in our world but won’t talk to our friends and co-workers about their sins. Instead of fire in our bones we have marshmallow in our spines.
Jeremiah and Peter and John and Paul had a fire burning within because they cared for the lost souls of men. They cared about their eternal destiny. How concerned are we about the lost souls of men? Does it hurt your heart to think about people dying without the Gospel?
Stephen Cram September 22, 2013
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with Christ. Colossians 2:8
Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.
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