WHAT DESPAIR LOOKS LIKE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed! Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, ‘A child is born to you—a son!’ May that man be like the towns the Lord overthrew without pity. May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon. For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever. Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?”

Jeremiah 20:14-18

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Life can be hard. Very hard sometimes and so much so that it can drag someone down into the pit of anguish and dejection toward depression and hopelessness.

Maybe you have been there. I know I have once.

During those times of incredible hardship and difficulty, you feel the weight of the world pressing down upon you crushing your spirit. It’s hard to find your bearings because you are lost in the forest of your circumstances, immersed in the darkness of your situation. You can’t see a way clear of your troubles, more and more feeling like just surrendering and giving up.

This is what despair looks like and as we look at the closing verses of Jeremiah 20, we find the prophet Jeremiah in that place. Look at his confession again here:

 “Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed! Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, ‘A child is born to you—a son!’ May that man be like the towns the Lord overthrew without pity. May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon. For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever. Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?”  Jeremiah 20:14-18

The words are difficult to read as we get a glimpse into the troubled heart of God’s servant messenger and we should not lose sight of the fact that Jeremiah was a man of God. You see, despondency can even strike the most dedicated and devoted believers.

What did Jeremiah’s despair look like?

1. He cursed the day he was born and did not wish blessings on the day his mother delivered him into the world.

2. He wished bad things on the man who delivered the news of his birth to his father, desiring that the man experience the same fate as Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities Jeremiah was referring to.

3. He even wished that he would have just dies before being born, his mother’s womb serving as a tomb for him. If it had happened that way, then Jeremiah would have not been able to see trouble and sorrow and shame.

But that’s not all he would have missed out on.

For if we go back to the simple verse of praise which was the center of yesterday’s devotion, we find these words coming from the same mouth that spoke such deep words of despair:

“Sing to the Lord! Give praise to the Lord! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.” Jeremiah 20:13

Yes, Jeremiah endured tough times and times that often left him dismayed. But he also experienced God’s great redemption and deliverance which elevated his spirits from a point of gloom to a place of joy and praise unto the only One, the Lord, who could help him in his times of trouble.

Friends, like Jeremiah, we all can find ourselves dragged down into the hole of melancholy and sadness where we wonder if things will ever change and get better. If we weren’t we would never know what despair looks like.

Likewise, we would never know what true rescue and restoration looks like, a rescue and restoration that comes from the Lord and leads us to see His glory fully revealed as He fortifies our faith and brings us back to a place of joy and praise, a place where a hopeful spirit is renewed within.  

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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