Are you Speaking to me?

Wouldn’t it be amazing if God sent a message specially to you?  Baruch is a man who God sent a message to because he wanted him to know something about himself.  I found Jeremiah 45 to be a very challenging passage as I contemplated how it relates to me. You may find this passage pierces your heart like it did mine.

Scripture

“The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: ² “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: ³ You said, ‘Woe is me! For the Lord has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.’ ⁴ Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—that is, the whole land. ⁵ And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the Lord. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.” (Jer. 45)

Observation

• This is a fascinating and very convicting chapter for me.  I have been following Jesus for 50+ years and yet this passage shows me I still need God to work on my heart! 
• This chapter is a special message to Baruch who was an assistant to Jeremiah.
• Back in chapter 36, Jeremiah asked Baruch to write down all of his prophecies for Judah. This would have taken days, weeks or months to accurately record those words.  
• After hearing Baruch, the leaders took those prophecies to the king and read them but the king cut the scroll as they read it and threw the pieces into the fire.
• God spoke this special message to Baruch because he was complaining. I am sure he was discouraged, grieved, and even disillusioned because all his work seemed to be for no benefit.
• I am sure that Baruch was also afraid for his life because the leaders told him to go and hide for fear of the reaction of the king.
• God’s message to Baruch was not, “so sorry this is hard Baruch, remember that I am working all things out for the My good.”  No, his message was, “stop seeking your own glory!  Stop being so selfish!”
• His self-centeredness is revealed by Ryken when he notes,

“He sounds even more self-centered in Hebrew, because nearly every word ends with a first person possessive pronoun: my woe, my pain, my being worn out, my groaning, my finding no rest. However much he may have hated his life, Baruch was still very deeply in love with himself!”

• Ryken goes on to say,

“Baruch’s complaint yields two important insights about depression. The first is that every complaint is finally a complaint about God. Ultimately Baruch was blaming God for his troubles. It was “the Lord” who had added sorrow to his pain. Even when it has a physical component, despair is always a spiritual matter. Dissatisfaction with life is dissatisfaction with God. “It is all God’s fault,” people say. “God gave me this lousy job. God made me sick. God took away my loved ones.” Whatever the trouble, God is to blame.

As depression turns against God, it turns inward upon the self. Baruch could not see beyond the boundaries of his own troubles. He spent all his time thinking about how tired he was, how much pain he was in, how many griefs he had to bear. But God cut right to the heart of Baruch’s real problem: He was seeking something for himself.”

Application

• Ryken, who I am quoting extensively, really has hit me between the eyes with his insight. He continues,

“At some time or other, every Christian wants to stand with the prophet in the presence of God and say, “Here I am, Lord. Use me! Send me! I will go anywhere. I will do anything. I will suffer everything for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Yet there can be something very self-centered about that prayer. “Here am I. Send me!” Some Christians think the important thing is not that God’s will gets done, but that they get to do it. They are happy for God to get the glory as long as they can share some of the limelight. How hard it is to attempt great things for God without attempting them also for self!

• Finally, he says,

If you are waiting to do some great thing, you may be wasting God’s time. Most Christians will never do anything great. “Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not” (45:5a). Instead, give your best for God in the small things. Be a good worker, lead one person to Christ, raise a godly family, support a missionary. The way to seek the glory of God is in the little things of the Christian life. Hudson Taylor (1832–1905) once said, “A little thing is just a little thing, but faithfulness in a little thing is a great thing.” Not a great thing for you, understand, but a great thing for God. God is glorified greatly by the little things done for his glory. Attempt small things for God! What does it take for a man like Baruch to stop seeking great things for himself? 

The answer is that he must die to himself. The self will not stop seeking greatness until it is put to death. But once the self is dead, the only thing left is to attempt small things (or great things) for the glory of God.

Prayer

Father, what an insightful passage that reveals the ongoing struggle with my heart. As Ryken said, I desire to do great things for you and then when things do not go as I think they should, I gripe and complain.  I must examine my true motivation. Forgive me for my self-centeredness. Help me to live daily as someone who has died with Jesus on the cross and now is living to simply be faithful and obedient while allowing you to accomplish your will whatever it might be. Help me to remember daily that life is not about me.