Burning Inside

Jeremiah 20:9
Then I said I will not make mention of him, nor speak anymore in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
This is not intended to be a message. I am not a preacher. It’s just that I have been dwelling on this verse for awhile now, so I thought I’d share. When my Pastor read it, he was actually reading the chapter, and was aiming his message somewhere else, but this verse really spoke to my heart. Maybe, because I’ve been there. Maybe you have too.
Jeremiah was discouraged. Being a Prophet was much harder than he had thought. Though he was only speaking the messages God told him to, and he was only trying to help, most people wouldn’t listen. The Bible tells us in the preceding verses he was mocked and derided. He was laughed at, made fun of in the Lords name. He goes on to tell the Lord he felt deceived. I guess he thought serving the Lord, who is so very powerful, would be easy. I guess he thought since the Lord was so great, that no one would dare stand against him.
How often do we get tired of the battle? How often do we want to just ‘give up’, stop serving, stop witnessing, stop going to church, stop doing what’s right? We are often laughed at, made fun of, humored facetiously ,sometimes we even have to give up OUR desires to do what we know is right.
Jeremiah was finished. He was done. He wasn’t going to serve anymore, BUT... Once the Lord's words are in our hearts we can’t just let go. They burn within us. I don’t know about you but I often debate within my mind. It’s funny, I can think of something I WANT to be true, but immediately a verse come to mind, or a thought that I didn’t even know I knew will pop up in reply telling me I already know what God thinks about it. The longer I go on in my own way, the worse the fire is. I burn on the inside. Sometimes it can make us angry, that’s our flesh screaming for its own way,all the while, knowing that it’s the wrong way.
As the verse states, we get weary or tired from trying so hard to ignore what we know to be right. We just can’t stay in that state for long.
David even said in Psalms that his bones waxed old from keeping silent.
Keeping our silence, not serving, will eventually wear us down.
Jeremiah goes on to say that even his friends were watching for him to stop serving. "all my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.”
But Jeremiah knew what to do. He said “ But the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible one...” he acknowledged the Lord was always there, protecting.
“Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.” He DID something. He didn't just sit there. He PRAISED the Lord. He thanked Him. He thanked the Lord for things that he trusted the Lord was going to do.
So, have you been there? I have. It’s honestly a blessing to me to know that even one who was chosen by the Lord, who actually heard the voice of God in his ear, had some of the same issues we do, and the Lord brought him through.