Chapter-a-Day Jeremiah 20

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"Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Je...
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But if I say, “Forget it!
   No more God-Messages from me!”
The words are fire in my belly,
   a burning in my bones.
I’m worn out trying to hold it in.
   I can’t do it any longer! Jeremiah 20:9 (MSG)

Along the journey, we all reach places that feel like a dead end. Frustrated, exasperated, and at the end of our patience we feel like a ticking time bomb of emotions.

Jeremiah stands as a testament for all of us. Today’s chapter reminds us that we all hit a breaking point, and when we do it is perfectly acceptable to pour out our hearts to God. He is not surprised by our emotion. He is not deaf to our cries. God is big enough to handle the full onslaught of our anger, our frustration, our screams, and our tears.

Along the way, we will all need a healthy release of our our pent  up emotions. Like Jeremiah, like David in the Psalms, like Jesus in Gethsemane, we sometimes need to plead our case and get out what’s bugging us. If we don’t, then it’s all going to spill out anyway. We can’t contain it. It just squirts out in unhealthy ways.

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One response to “Chapter-a-Day Jeremiah 20”

  1. […] help think of the prophet Jeremiah when used the metaphor of the message God was giving him being a “fire shut up in my bones” that just has to get […]

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