Jeremiah complains about his calling (ch20)

At the beginning of ch20, Jeremiah was placed in the stocks overnight after proclaiming his message in the court of the house of the Lord. He spends the rest of the chapter complaining that the Lord has chosen to call him into that situation.

The first version of the complaint (vv7-13) comes in the form adopted by many of the psalms.
The opening verse (v7) gives us a summary of the complaint;
“O Lord, thou hast deceived me… thou art stronger than I and thou has prevailed.”
It was the strength of the Lord that pulled Jeremiah, against his will, out of the quiet life into a campaign of aggressive prophecy. The Lord then “deceived” Jeremiah by failing to give him as much support as he wanted. It is not an easy life being a prophet of the Lord. No sane man actually wants the job.

Specifically; everybody mocks him. He has become a laughing-stock. This is because he is constrained to prophecy loudly about “violence and destruction”. It is the word of the Lord, but it is also the reason why people reproach him.

He has tried “going on strike” and refusing to speak in God’s name. But then the word becomes like a burning fire inside him, and he cannot hold it in. He is exactly in Paul’s position; “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians ch9 v16)

He can hear what people say about him. They call him “Terror on every side.” This seems to mean “Everybody’s enemy”- Jeremiah used it himself about Pashhur a few verses previously. They say “Let us denounce him!” They are hoping for him to make a slip and fall, being “deceived”, so that they can overcome him.

But the the complaint moves into the “salvation hope” ending typical of many psalms (vv11-13).
“But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble… They will not succeed. Their eternal dishonour will never be forgotten.”

There is a psalm-type prayer; “O Lord of Hosts who tries the righteous, who sees the heart and mind, let me see thy vengeance upon them, for to thee have I committed my cause.”

Finally there is s psalm-type declaration of thanksgiving; “Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy [e.g. Jeremiah] from the hand of evildoers.”

The second version of the complaint (vv14-18) is indistinguishable from the complaint of Job ch3. The two themes are identical. Jeremiah has a more localised reason for hating his life as much as Job, but the personal application to Jeremiah is not mentioned in the text.
“Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me… Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father… Let him be like the cities which the Lord overthrew [ie Sodom and Gomorrah]…”
The man should be kept in a perpetual state of alarms, hearing alarm cries in the morning and at noon, because he did not kill me in the womb instead.
As in the case of Job, these curses are oblique ways of cursing the God who gave him life, which would be a sin.
“Why did I come forth from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?”

a reply to: DISRAELI

Jeremiah was definitely the hardest-up of the prophets.

His message was seen as unpopular and unpatriotic. He wasn't in receipt of any reward for speaking it out. He was opposed by other 'people pleasing' false prophets, and was actually actively persecuted (unfairly) by the authorities.

His life was anathema for those who even today are 'prosperity' preachers and prophets. But so was his Lord, who suffered unfairly, too.

Somewhere there, it's like the instant gratification, more, more, and now! proponents have lost the thread of God's truth.

God uses everything for his purposes. Nothing is wasted. Nothing is meaningless. Jesus Himself turned sacrifice into the sacred.

We, as humans, know so little that we think God is 'all about ourselves'. Most of us cannot even conceive of God's true goals or purposes. Some times (most times) bettering things and learning and growth requires struggle and pain.

Jeremiah inspires me with his faithfulness.

a person I know in the ministry said that he was told years ago
that his generation would be modern Jeremiahs, largely spurned.

but he still does his duty to share the word as best he can.

I'm reminded of Ezekiel's comment on being a watchmen; sound the alarm, and if they don't listen, it's on them.

Wisdom cries out in the streets. Who will hear?

originally posted by: DISRAELI
Specifically; everybody mocks him. He has become a laughing-stock. This is because he is constrained to prophecy loudly about “violence and destruction”. It is the word of the Lord, but it is also the reason why people reproach him.

Although I don't consider myself to be a prophet, I relate to Jeremiah's suffering from everybody mocking and laughing at him. I was just thinking yesterday that other people don't suffer the way I do at the hands of others. However, I then realized that most everyone is mocked and laughed at in today's society. Society is so incredibly shallow that it mocks and laughs at you just for existing, especially on the internet. Bots are designed to mock and 'laugh' at you regardless of what you think in order to make you think you are in the minority. That no matter what you think, you are not acceptable. In the past, I admit that I have done and said things that deserved to be mocked. However, I matured and have reached the point in my life where I purposefully don't do or say anything foolish and yet I am still mocked and laughed at everywhere I go. However, people don't mock and laugh at me for long because God defends me. I simply pray that God repays them and causes them to reap what they sow against me. I pray that they fall into the pits that they dig for me. This causes me to believe that the tribulation occurs simply because so many people reap the wickedness that they sow.

Jeremiah 20:5 I will give away all the wealth of this city—all its products and valuables, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah—to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon.

Is this not what is happening in the world? Babylon is certainly plundering the world. Nations are reaping what they have sown in other nations.