BYM ONLINE DESK Blessing English Emagazine April 2019 | Page 4

April 2019 | www.bymonline.org
everything was bleak, God raised Moses. When people
needed direction, God provided Samuel. When the Israelites
needed a shepherd, He gave them David. When they
strayed, He sent them prophets. We can never ever fully
understand the plans of God, but His plans are always the
best. Sometimes, God works through human failures. He let
Israel choose their king and then, he raised a shepherd-king,
David.
At times our seemingly perfect plans may not
come to pass. Let us not forget that we are living in a fallen
world among fallen people. Whenever we feel that we are
rejected by people, let us never forget that God understands
and He has other plans. Let us submit to God and let Him do
whatever He wills.
3. Jeremiah's Message Rejected
Jer 25:3 - “For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year
of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the
Word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken
persistently to you, but you have not listened.”
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considered as lies (43:2).
The way king Jehoiakim responded to
prophet Jeremiah's warning was in sharp contrast to the way
king David responded to prophet Nathan's rebuke. Though
Jeremiah was faithful in preaching God's Word, no one had a
heart to listen or repent. Jeremiah lived in a period when
Israel was ripe for the judgment of God. I wonder how
Jeremiah would have felt towards the end of his ministry.
Are you fighting a lonely battle? Does everybody seem
distant to you? Does your ministry look like a failure after
years of toil and labour? Has your faithfulness been called
into question? Take heart, we are living in more perilous
times than Jeremiah. We need to be faithful till the end. All
hell will breakout against the person who is faithful and just.
Let us follow the example of Jeremiah. Whether people
accept our message or not, we should be faithful to God and
to His Word. Being faithful may invite persecution and
troubles. Let us foresee that and stay strong in the Lord.
4. Paul's Apostleship Rejected
2 Cor 12:11 “I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I
ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all
inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing.”
This was what Jeremiah had to say after his
23 years of prophetic ministry! We find that Jeremiah's
prophetic warnings were rejected time and again. When he
preached that God was going to demolish the temple at
Jerusalem, he was considered to utter blasphemy against
God (Jer 26:10). His own people schemed against him to put
him to death (11:21). His written words of prophesy were
burnt by King Jehoiakim (36:23). The chief officer in the
house of the Lord persecuted him(20:2). Priests and
prophets of his days sought his death (26:7-11). His letters of
encouragement to the exiles were misinterpreted (29:27,
28). His final warning to surrender to Babylonians was
considered as treason (37:13). Even after the fall of
Jerusalem when Jeremiah warned the people against going
to Egypt, no one was willing to hear and his prophecies were
Paul was not one among the Twelve. He was
not one among the first Apostles. But he was a chosen
instrument of God (Acts 9:15). He had a special calling that
the Twelve did not have. He was called to charter the church
doctrine. Thirteen of his epistles were going to be in the
Holy Scriptures. Hence, God burdened him regarding every
problem the early Church faced. He bore in his heart the
burden of the church. He considered Christian formation
ministry as equal to birth-pains (Gal 4:19). Sometimes as a
Tent-maker, he helped himself not willing to burden anyone
(2 Cor 11:9). But his sincerity was questioned. His calling as
an apostle was rejected. False teachers and apostles
penetrated the churches that he had planted and infected the
new believers with strange teachings. And when Paul
refuted that, they tried to discredit him altogether. Apostle
Paul must have been devastated. His sufferings were
unparalleled. He had labored more and journeyed more. But
his calling and anointing came into question. His writes
about people turning away from him (2 Tim 1:15) and
everyone deserting him (2 Tim 4:16).
When we are discredited and defamed by
people, let us not lose heart. Let us ask God to give us the
spirit of Paul, a fighting spirit, a never-give-up spirit. Let us
never quit. Let us keep doing the good things that the Lord