“Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they [be] all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.” (Jer 9:2 AV)
What are the signs your preacher might need time off? Jeremiah is getting close to the edge. In the next few chapters, he is about to hang up his bible and quit on God. He is preaching to a congregation that seems to ignore his warning. He sees to profit in it. Why is he working so hard for so little results? If you look closely at Jeremiah’s statement, there are several things to glean. First, a sabbatical is not limited to time off alone. Jeremiah is seeking a lodging place for men who are tapped out. He does not seek time off to spend at home and worry about the challenges there. He seeks a special place where wayfaring men can go. A place in the wilderness. He is not seeking to replace one ministry with another. He does not want to take time away from the ministry, only to go to a place where there are more people in need. No, the prophet wants a place in the wilderness where he can get away from the demands of the souls of men. He needs rest. Not merely relocation.
Second, note also that he wants to disengage from his people. Jeremiah is not speaking of a sabbatical, of merely relocating to a different physical place. He needs to take the time to emotionally disengage for a time. It is not that he dislikes his people or resents the call of God. Rather, Jeremiah is asked to do the impossible. This takes a seriously deep draw on the emotions. He cares. He loves. He labors. But like physical strength, he has only so much emotional ability. When the depths of the demands of God’s hurting people reach a peak, Jeremiah knows that he needs to remove himself from the needs of his people. The phone has to be turned off. The computer must be left at home. There has to be a total break from that which demands of him everything he has. The wilderness is a place where communication is cut off. The wilderness is a place that is so different from what he came from that no thought of what he had back home enters his heart and mind. If he has to recharge, he must do so completely. It is like my computer battery. I learned that in today’s computers, one must totally discharge the battery in BIOS for Windows to recalibrate the battery charging level.
So, what is the indication above that shows us that Jeremiah needed a break? Note the exaggeration. He states that all of Judah and Benjamin have become spiritual adulterers. Every last one of them. In his view, there wasn’t one soul left in Judah to hang his optimism on. He had lumped everyone together and because the overwhelming condition of his congregation was a backslidden state, then every last one of them must be. This was not due to lack of information. This was due solely to exhaustion. How do we know? There was a family who made a vow to keep them separate from the sins of Judah. They were called the Rechabites. Their father, Rechab, required the whole family vow this vow. They kept it with earnest. They were the shining lights in an otherwise dark time. Jeremiah would later bring them into the temple. They were challenged to break their vow and refused. As a result, the LORD spared them the fate of the rest of the nation. Remember that Daniel and his three friends were also part of the children of Israel that went into Babylon. In other words, Jeremiah could only see the negative. He could not see the positive. He refused to be encouraged. Why? He needed a break. So, if your preacher is depressed and negative; if he sees no reason to carry on; if he refuses to rejoice at the good news that trickles his way; if all he sees is hopelessness; then take up a love offering. He needs a break. Plan it for him. Make the reservations. Give him a sabbatical and instruct all to leave him be. No phone calls. No texts. No emails. Nothing. If something comes up, handle it as a church. If your preacher never wears a smile, never laughs, never has eyes of joy and optimism, then send him away to the wilderness. Do so before he snaps and quits the ministry altogether.
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