19 Thus says the Lord, “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the [a]senior priests. 2 Then go out to the valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the potsherd gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you, 3 and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold I am about to bring a calamity upon this place, at which the ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. 4 Because they have forsaken Me and have made this an alien place and have burned [b]sacrifices in it to other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent 5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My [c]mind; 6 therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter. 7 I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will give over their carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. 8 I will also make this city a desolation and an object of hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its [d]disasters. 9 I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them.”’
The wild thing about God’s instruction here is that he tells Jeremiah (a young man) to go get some of the elders and senior priests. And why would they listen to Jeremiah? Even further, how much are they going to enjoy standing there listening to him proclaim God’s judgment on them? That’s a tall order indeed, and must have been a little intimidating for Jeremiah. No wonder we see other times where God admonishes him not to give in to the people, but to trust in God alone.
This message seems even more harsh when we see how desperate the people will become during the impending siege (v. 9). One might be tempted to think God has gone a little nuts, bringing this judgment on them. Yet it speaks more of their depravity, for they offered their own children as sacrifices to these wicked idols, and God could not allow such things to continue.
While we might think the elders and senior priests would be more sympathetic to Jeremiah’s plea, it is possible Jeremiah was going to confront the very ringleaders of such debauchery. In that, we see more how difficult the task was that God asked of Jeremiah.
So, if ever we think God is calling us to something crazy, we would do well to remember poor Jeremiah’s plight here. Regardless, God would be with Jeremiah through this all. He wasn’t delivering his own message, but the words that God spoke to him first.
Whatever it is that God asks of us, we need to be faithful to see it through. It is not our own strength that will rule the day, but that of our mighty God, who is working through us and is more than faithful to complete that work. (Philippians 1:6) God loves the whole world, not just the easy, comfortable, nice people, and as Jesus said, “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
I was reminded yesterday that God can do things we would never expect, in situations we would think are completely hopeless. They might be, but God brings hope with Him, and when we do His work, it comes with us also. Don’t shrink back from what God asks, but embrace it and stand firm. God will see you through, no matter the odds. He does His best work when the odds are stacked against it, like He has done so many times before–Gideon, David, Daniel, the list goes on, and He isn’t done yet!