Sing to the LORD; praise the LORD! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers.
Jeremiah 20:13
The book of Jeremiah is one of the most difficult books of the Bible to understand. It is probably due to the fact that the prophet was so sure that God would reward those who did “Good” and punish those who did “Evil”, and do it in the sight of the world. Jeremiah’s entire prophetic pronouncements were based on Gods rewards and punishments, and when rewards did not fall to the good and punishments did not befall the bad, he complained to God. There are a number of his complaints to God in this book and the above verse comes from one of them. (You might want to read verses 7 thru18 of chapter 20 to get a feeling of Jeremiahs bitter complaint).
While there are those we know who complain to God about the same conditions that Jeremiah complained about, they do not strike us as true doers of the Word. Most of us in some way or another do complain to God when we, in our every day lives, see justice unrewarded and injustice unpunished. However, as Christians we must always remember, we have something going for us that Jeremiah did not. We have the mystery of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus which alone will deliver the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.
The Rev. Carl W. Rehling
