When you cannot keep going, can you go again?

Speaking truth in a world of lies is not easy. Serving God in a world that hates Him is not comfortable. Standing for what is right in a world hell-bent on evil is anything but pleasant. We all know this. We all feel it. And there are times when we feel it more vividly. 

What causes discouragement?  Of course, there is the insidious work of the enemy to tear down our resolve and distract our hearts. Then there are the people who stand opposed, with their ideologies, threats, and apparent power to harm. 

But perhaps the greatest discouragement comes from those who should know better. 

As the years pass, I see time and again the difficulty posed by other Christians and their reasons why we shouldn’t speak truth, serve God, and stand for what is right quite so boldly. 

I have been encouraged by reading through Jeremiah again in recent days. God called him to speak God’s message to God’s people. What could be difficult about that? 

In Jeremiah 11:18-23, we see the men of his own hometown conspiring to kill him because he spoke for God. 

In Jeremiah 26, he speaks God’s message in the temple courts. Surely there, the people of God would be responsive to the truth?  No, the prophets, the priests and all the people wanted to kill Jeremiah. 

Is it possible to imagine a time when speaking the truth brings condemnation and calls for elimination and death?

In Jeremiah 37-38, we see the prophet being lied about, beaten, imprisoned, and thrown into a cistern to die.  And yet, Jeremiah continued to speak truth, to serve God, to stand for what was right. 

Yes, his message was controversial; it was unpopular, as it went against the prevailing narrative, and he knew the consequences of continuing to speak.  And still, he continued to talk about truth, to serve God, and to stand for what was right.

The passage that grips my heart and lifts me to speak again is Jeremiah 20.  In this passage, it was also a priest who opposed Jeremiah.  Pashhur the priest beat the prophet and humiliated him at the gate.  And yet, Jeremiah continued to speak the truth, for God, boldly. 

From verse 7, we get a glimpse into the suffering heart of the weeping prophet.  It was not easy to speak God’s truth and to stand for what is right.  We read his cry to God as he is humiliated. 

We read his despair as the words he speaks don’t land in the hearts of his listeners, but seem only to rain down blows on his own soul.  Jeremiah seems worn down, his reserves gone, his motivation in tatters. 

Later in the lament, he is cursing the day he was born, even the man who came out and announced the news of his birth to his father.  Sometimes the despair can be so vivid that you despise the fact that you were even born at all.  And yet . . .

And yet, there is verse 9.  If it is so hard to speak the truth and stand for what is right, serving God amidst the hostility of the enemy, and even of God’s own people, then maybe it is not worth it? 

Perhaps lying spent on the ground, his fuel tank emptied, his inner drive stalling, his motivation poured out in his tears, maybe he should stop speaking?  And yet . . . “there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot.” 

The tears soak the ground. Tears of grief, of anger, of hurt. Tears not just at the evil of the enemy, but at the blindness and unwillingness to see among those who are supposedly on the same side. 

Tears of loss, tears filled with fear for the future, anger at injustice, weariness from the fight. The tears may soak the ground, and our energy may be all spent.  And yet, is there not a burning fire still burning in our hearts and shut up in our bones?  We cannot hold it in.

And so, like the weeping prophet of old, we rise to our knees, prayerfully resolute. We stand again. We take a breath. And we speak. We speak the truth, we serve God, we stand for what is right. 

Will those who should be with us change course and start to agree?  Maybe. They can be won, one heart at a time. But perhaps they will continue to whisper and plot against us. Is it worth it?  Can we, like Jeremiah, go again? 

We can if we remember who is with us. “The LORD is with me as a dread warrior.”  (Jeremiah 20:11)

Are you wearied from the battle? That may be because of opposition from our spiritual enemy, or human forces arrayed against God’s truth, or even from “friendly fire” that sucks the motivation from you.   

Pour out all the angst that is built up inside. Pour it out until there is nothing left.  And then ask yourself, is the fire still burning in my heart and shut up in my bones?  

“Alright then, Lord, if you will go with me, I will climb back onto my feet and go again.  I will speak the truth.  I will serve my God.  I will stand for what is right.  The LORD is with me as a dread warrior.”

Peter Mead is mentor at Cor Deo and author of several books. He blogs at Biblical Preaching.