Serving the LORD is Not Always Pleasant

Jeremiah 37:15: "They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison."


During the reign of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah before the Babylonian Captivity, the prophet Jeremiah experienced some of the most intense persecution from the people of Judah for his stand for the Lord.


To be sure, Jeremiah previously had endured much turmoil for his obedience to the Lord from the wicked people of Judah. When the prophet began to warn the people of God's pending judgment, the people cursed him and plotted to kill him (Jeremiah 11:18-19, 15:10). People were constantly watching Jeremiah hoping to find something to use to indict him for treason (which would bring his execution [20:10]). The priest (Pashhur) had Jeremiah taken and beaten and put in stocks for his prophecies against Judah (20:2). Later, when Jeremiah was prophesying against the wickedness of the people at the courtyard of the temple, the religious leaders and the people who followed them grabbed Jeremiah and said, "You must die!" Through the Providential intervention of the Lord, Jeremiah's life was spared; but one of his fellow prophets, Uriah, was not so fortunate, as he was "struck down with the sword (26:23).

By the time of Zedekiah's reign, Jeremiah's words had fallen on deaf ears, for none of the people "paid any attention to the words the LORD had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet." (37:2). As the Babylonians were attacking Jerusalem, Jeremiah attempted to leave the city to secure property in the region of Benjamin, but he was arrested by the captain of the guard and accused of the traitorous act of leaving to join the Babylonians. Jeremiah attempted to discredit the false charges, but these officials of Judah had been looking for a good excuse to destroy the prophet.

After beating Jeremiah ruthlessly, the accusers, placed him in a vaulted cell in a dungeon and left him there for a very long time. We are not told how long, but one can just imaging day after day the agonizing torture that such confinement in a dark, dank cell would have brought to the prophet of the Lord.

Almost as if to test the resiliency of the prophet, King Zedekiah brought forth Jeremiah from the dungeon to inquire what was the latest word of the Lord in regard to the Babylonians. We could see the temptation that we might have faced in such a predicament. After having gone through so much rejection and torture for so long, we might have been inclined to say, "Long live the king! Everything is going to work out just fine." How many of us would have capitulated to such pressure, feeling as if the Lord had abandoned us to misery, and now we were ready to break free from the pressure that ministry had brought us. It is rather incredible that Jeremiah would continue to proclaim to Zedekiah his royal demise, knowing that such a response would likely result in his return to the very prison in which he had been confined for so many days already.

Jeremiah pleaded with the king to not return him to the prison at the house of Jonathan the secretary. The prophet had been so abused at that place, that he knew that to return to that cell in effect would be his death sentence. In a strange twist of events, spurred on by the gracious hand of the Lord, the king consented to Jeremiah's request, though he would confine him to the courtyard of the guard. Jeremiah would be given bread to eat until the city of Jerusalem ran out of available food for the people to eat.

Although Jeremiah was still confined to a specific location within the city, he was given greater flexibility to move about, and this added freedom gave him opportunity to share with people the coming judgment of the LORD upon the people of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians. The officials, who were listening to Jeremiah, would have none of it, and again incited the king to execute the prophet of God. The weak king, who tended to acquiesce to the wishes of his leadership, gave Jeremiah over to these officials to do with him as they willed. With haste, these royal officials took Jeremiah and threw him into a deep cistern full of mud and left him there to die of starvation. One wonders as Jeremiah was being lowered in the dark pit in the ground,what was going through his mind. Many of us might have been thinking "I narrowly escaped death by being imprisoned in a vaulted cell for many days, only to be thrown into this dark hole filled with mud and no opportunity of escape. I guess I should have kept my mouth shut when the king show me favor by releasing me from the vaulted cell." What we must remember is that Jeremiah previously had experienced an incredible encounter with the Lord (see chapter 1) that gave him the resolve to press on in obedience no matter the consequence. Though the road of obedience was tortuous and perilous, Jeremiah knew that it was the path that he had been called to traverse, no matter the cost.

We would do well to remember this account of Jeremiah as we continue to serve the Lord. We must not forget that serving the LORD is not always pleasant; in fact, it can be filled with pain, rejection, and persecution from those who would defy the One True Lord of Hosts in favor of their own desires. As with the prophet who was strengthened in his commitment through a divine encounter by the LORD, so too we will be fortified in our calling by keeping our eyes and ears attune to God's words of direction and inspiration for us. And we know that He will speak to us, as we remain committed to him through our commitment to His Word (the Scriptures) and through earnest, fervent prayer.

May we have the revolve of Jeremiah to press on in the callings placed upon us by the Lord, in order that His purposes might be fulfilled through us for His glory and the furtherance of His glorious kingdom.