I Am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath

"I Am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day. My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. e hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord: Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.

For the Lord will not cast off for ever: But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men... Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission... Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause. They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off. I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon. Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not. O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life. O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause. Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginations against me; The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick. Render unto them a recompence, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them. Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord" (Lam. 3:1-33,48,49,52-66). This is the testimony of one of the most faithful and most beautiful souls in the history of the world. That would be the mighty prophet Jeremiah, who in my estimation was the most persecuted prophet of all. If we are not diligent in our study of this passage we may miss the fact that in the middle of this reading Jeremiah greatly extols the mercy and compassion of the Lord, and expresses much gratitude for the Lord hearing his cries and redeeming his life. There is nothing in this testimony that Jeremiah did not experience in his life, and there is nothing that he expressed that wasn't exactly how he felt. Not only so, but there is absolutely no reason for us to believe that anything that was said by the prophet here was wrong, self-pitying, or spiteful.

There is no one alive today who has been anywhere near in the position that this man was put in, and hated by all of God's people like he was for speaking as much from God to his people that he spoke. Therefore there is not a soul on earth who is qualified to judge Jeremiah's testimony, or try to critique it. What I would like to point out that can be of help to our faith is the combination of elements that make up the faith of Christ, which elements will be found in anyone who walks with God steadfastly over a good period of time as did Jeremiah. The reason I speak of the faith of Christ in regard to an old testament prophet is because those who had faith in God under the old covenant were counted as having faith in Christ, seeing there is no differences between Christ and the Father (Jn. 10:30; Jn. 17:21-23). In fact we have scripture that show that it is the same faith, and has been from the beginning (I Cor. 10:4; Heb. 11:26). We see that Jeremiah felt great desolation and isolation, even to the point of feeling abandoned by the Lord. The only people who will try to criticize the prophet for his feeling in these things are those who simply have not been where he was or done what he did for God and his people, even on a reduced level. But after he expressed all of his despair with where his faithfulness to God seemed to have led him, he comes along and magnifies God for hearing him and coming to his aid in a seemingly impossible situation. He speaks with great praise of the 'great faithfulness' and unfathomable compassion and mercy that God has and shows to those who wait for him. He also confesses his knowledge that God never afflicts anyone because he wants to afflict them, and that confession followed a long expression of feeling that he had been basically beaten up and boxed out by God. Feeling something and truly believing something can be two very different things, and that was the case in this testimony of Jeremiah. He speaks later in the passage of some things that he really did experience, and how misaligned he was by God's people to whom God sent him to.

Jeremiah actually finishes this testimony with a plea to the Lord to overthrow and destroy those who had dealt with him with such injustice. But before someone misjudges him on that, we should recall the following lines that were written before that plea: "Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission." Jeremiah is known as 'the weeping prophet,' and it is also known that his much weeping was not for his own personal misfortunes. Until we have that report of ourselves in regard to our heart toward all of God's people, we are not qualified to criticize someone who did have it for requesting the destruction of their enemies. Not only so, but we have multiple prophecies by the Spirit of Christ that are absolutely about things Jesus experienced on earth, where he expresses definitive curses on his adversaries (Psm. 109:1-32; Psm. 69:19-29; etc.). These passages are too long to paste here, but they should be read, and it should be understood that the words therein were expressed by the same man who with some of his last words before death were, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Lk. 23:34). Also Jesus will bring utter destruction on all who have opposed him when he comes the second time. I doubt that anyone is willing to criticize Jesus for the curses and destruction that he uttered in prophecy against his enemies, so I think it wise to not do that in regard to a man whose heart was like the heart of Jesus. So in closing I would just like to remind all who aspire to do great things in the kingdom of God in these last days, that there is much to be suffered for the name of the Lord in so doing. Yet that is not a bad thing, but rather, "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us" (II Tim. 2:12). Jeremiah's testimony is a sobering picture of what we can expect if we plan on being in a significant position with God in time to come. Great things will indeed be done in the kingdom of God in this end time, and great things will be suffered by those who do them; so one and all should gear up and prepare to occupy the place that God has already ordained for them. Amen.