Hope In the Evil Day

“Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.” (Jer 17:17 AV)

 

As Old Testament prophets go, Jeremiah had his share of troubles.  He was the weeping prophet that warned Judah of the coming invasion from the East.  As one can imagine, the message was not a welcomed one.  This poor prophet spent a few nights bound in the prison.  He endured persecution from those who professed to represent God.  When Babylon did invade, they pulled this faithful prophet out of a pit.  The disobedience of his native land caused him distress.  All that befell Jeremiah was allowed by the LORD for a means as a testimony against them.  When Babylon invaded, those who mistreated Jeremiah were severely punished.  Our faithful prophet above, utters a prayer that the LORD does not break him.  That is what the word for ‘terror’ means here.  Jeremiah can be pushed to his limits.  He is asking the LORD to know those limits and keep the prophet from losing hope.

Life can be disheartening due to no cause of our own.  Such was the case with Jeremiah.  We can have hard times that are not of our making.  The prophet can attest to this.  We can be pushed to our limit and wonder if we can make it through to the end.  We pray.  We fast.  We seek encouragement.  We ask others to pray.  We read our Bibles, go to church, and listen to Christian music.  We do all that we can do to get through the present circumstances, but in the back of our minds, we do not think we are going to last.  We hope the LORD does not allow circumstances to become so overwhelming that we lose our spirit.  Something that always gets the better of me is a daunting task.  I grew up in one of the snowiest parts of the continental United States.  We measure snow by the feet and not the inches.  When we got snow, it was always a lot.  When I was a young father, added to snow removal was the urgency to do so because I had a wife and three small sons who needed things.  When the snow came, it had to be removed or my family might go without food.  So, when I see snow, I see a daunting task that can soon become disheartening.  When I saw a double car driveway stretching sixty or seventy feet and the snow is three feet high, daunting doesn’t even begin to tell you how I felt.  No snow blower in the shed garage meant it all had to be done by hand.  It makes one want to quit even before he starts.

It is at times like these when the promise of 1Cor 10:13 truly rings loudly.  Yet, it is our discipline to trust what God says.  Paul states,  “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1Co 10:13 AV)  This is for what the prophet prayed.  He prays the LORD will not allow him to reach the point of the dissolving away of his spirit.  He does not want his spirit to be broken.  Some evidence of life must remain.  He is asking the LORD no matter how gray the clouds might be, that God becomes his hope.  He is asking the LORD to be brighter than the dimness around him.  If he has to remain in a pit, then may the light of God’s life reside there with him.  What Jeremiah asked for, he received more than enough.  Sure, Jeremiah quit. ONCE.  But he didn’t remain down for very long.  He may have been broken.  ONCE.  But he got right back up again.  This is for what Jeremiah prayed and the LORD heard him.