As we continue to study the
reaction and emotions of Jeremiah as he overlooked the devastated
city of Jerusalem, we have come to a new paragraph in chapter three
where Jeremiah begins to remember his overwhelming circumstances. We
begin in verse nineteen where we read:
Remembering my
affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
The
verse begins, “Remembering my affliction and my
misery,...” Four states of
mind are mentioned in this very short verse of which the first two
are “affliction”
which means “poverty or misery” and “misery”
which means “restlessness, straying, wanderer, or refugee”.
Jeremiah began to remember how miserable he was and how his situation
made him restless and as though he were a stranger without purpose.
If he were asked “what is it that you own now Jeremiah?” His
answer would be, “nothing but a miserable state and the belongings
of a refugee”.
The
verse goes on to say, “the wormwood and the gall.” In
addition to “affliction and misery”
Jeremiah adds “the wormwood”
which is a metaphor for bitterness and “the gall”
which is “venom, bitter, or poisonous” and is sometimes
translated “hemlock”. Jeremiah's circumstances have him
remembering his bitter state, and his life was lived as though it
were poisoned.
Have we ever been in a state
where it felt as though affliction and misery were the sum total of
our existence? Have we lived in a manner that feels restless like a
refugee or like our days are poisoned? We might suppose there are
periods in our lives where nothing but adversity has stricken us and
some of those times last longer than others. Sometimes afflictions
come as the Lord tries and refines us as mentioned in chapter
forty-eight and verse ten of the book of Isaiah where we read:
Behold, I have refined
you, but not with silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of
affliction.
In these
times we can rely upon the word of God who will never allow them
without a purpose, and He remembers us within them. As the Psalmist
said in chapter one hundred and nineteen and verse seventy-one:
When circumstances dictate
“affliction, misery, wormwood, and gall” we can know without a
shadow of a doubt that God Almighty is overseeing and teaching us to
have closer fellowship with Him.
Next
time we learn how these things affected Jeremiah's soul, so read
ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ;
www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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