Thursday 30th July
Read Jeremiah 1:9-10
“Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.’” (NIVUK)
God deals with Jeremiah’s second fear in the same way He dealt with Isaiah’s. But rather than use a coal from the altar (to cleanse Isaiah of guilt), he reached out and touched Jeremiah’s mouth. Andrew Shead’s book on Jeremiah, ‘A Mouth Full of Fire’, is a wonderful exposition of the gracious act of God in placing His words in Jeremiah’s mouth and the tension between God’s words and Jeremiah’s.
The words themselves however, at that time in Israel’s history, would only rarely be hopeful. Words about sin and judgment will flow from Jeremiah’s mouth twice as often as words of hope. These words provide a summary of the rest of Jeremiah.
It is fascinating that the words themselves will have power. We think of kings and rulers uprooting kingdoms and building monuments and empires. But the true power to effect such change resides in God’s words. God’s promises and authority lie behind this book.
Even were we tempted to dismiss the study of Jeremiah’s words as a merely historical exercise – the authority of the one who sits behind them is enough for us to pay close attention. As Andrew Shead beautifully captures in the title – Jeremiah is blessed(?) with a mouth full of fire!
