Jeremiah 45

Bible Passage:  Jeremiah 45

“And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I bring adversity on all flesh…”

– Jeremiah 45: 5a

In this exceptionally short chapter of Jeremiah, we see the friend of Jeremiah, Baruch, moaning and complaining to God about the current situation. He said that he was suffering, apparently thanks to God. He was feeling terrible, like a frog that got its tongue stuck on an icy metal pole because it missed a bug. But can we really blame him for feeling that way?

Like Jeremiah, he too was facing the impending prospect of seeing his beloved people being held captive by the Babylonians. And no matter he did, it was still going to be the same result. Furthermore, God didn’t reply him in the most comforting way we can think of. Instead, God seemed to be telling him off that he should forget about thinking of doing great things. I guess we can perceive that Baruch must have had some great plans forJerusalemthat he thought could save them and make God relent from destroying them. But it seemed that Baruch had “failed”, and God did not let him succeed.

Other “Failures” In The Bible

Apart from Baruch, in the Bible, I think we can think of some people who faced such a similar situation.

When Moses was still inEgyptduring the earlier part of his life, he had the passion and desire to defend his people, believing that God wanted to save them through his hands as he (note: not He, but he) saw fit. And he tried to start this campaign by killing an Egyptian who was bullying one of them. But did it work out as he had hoped? Go check it out in Exodus.

But the “failure” did not end there for Moses. Later on, Moses did lead the people out ofEgyptand in the wilderness, onward to thelandofCanaan. But how many of the first generation of people who came out from Egypt actually survived throughout long enough to even smell the land of milk and honey (note: did not really smell like milk and honey)? Not even Moses got in…

And of course, there were the major prophets. At least Moses had some hope in the beginning. Look at Isaiah… Even before he actually began, God already gave him an ice bath (i.e. threw cold water on him). And just examine the losses the prophets had to suffer, with no results to show for…

How many biblical characters can we think of who have seemingly “failed”?

“Failures” Of Today?

For us today, maybe some of us might have had some grand idea to help the church in some areas. Perhaps it could be something to help improve the evangelism scene of the church. Or maybe it’s to boost the quality of religious education. Whatever it may be for, there might be some of us who truly want to help the church prosper and have the inspiration to put a plan that looks good on paper into action. Some of us might see some results. But I think many of us might not see any improvements, or at least not in the way that we had anticipated.

By man’s standard, not see any results means that the plan had not worked. So when we don’t see the progress that we had hoped for, we might become disheartened. In the more serious cases, one’s faith might even be adversely affected. We see ourselves as having failed. And sometimes, like Baruch, we might end up sort of blaming God for not doing anything about it (Jeremiah 45: 3).

But have we really failed?

The Measure Of Success

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than yours, and My thoughts than your thoughts…”

– Isaiah 55: 9

What we deem as success may not be what God sees as success. What we deem as good for the church may not be what God defines as good. And what we deem as the best outcome may not be according to the will of God.

Sometimes, when something we planned for does not yield any good results, it’s not definitely because it was not a good idea, or that we did everything wrong. But sometimes, perhaps God would not allow it to succeed. I think that, from what God answered Baruch, He did not allow the plans of Baruch to succeed, and maybe that was why Baruch blamed God for them. But who are we to accuse our Sovereign God for not doing according to what we wanted?

And as for those who worked and toiled mightily and yet saw no fruit of their labours, would God have punished these people? Would God have condemned Isaiah for something that even God told him that he would never accomplish, but was still commanded to do it? Would God have condemned all the workers of the church who had served sincerely and with 128.53% conviction to God but saw next to nothing in their remaining lifespan? I don’t think so…

God does not think like how man thinks. And I don’t believe that, even though we might not have succeeded in our noble effort to improve something in the church, God will not be pleased with us. We have to remember that His will is not the same as ours, and His will overwrites ours always. God works in ways that we can’t really understand most of the time. So who are we to blame Him when He doesn’t enable our plan to work?

“But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go…”

– Jeremiah 45: 5b

 

I think that the more important measure of success would be how we live our lives and by what heart and mindset do we serve God with. If we serve God only desiring to see the fruits of OUR labour, then we must be prepared to face the consequences when things don’t turn out as planned. But if we serve God because we know it is the will of God and we serve Him wholeheartedly, we should be alright. Note that I’m not saying that those who have had experienced disappointment did not have a pure heart and reverence, but I think we should not be placing too much expectations based on our efforts. As workers of Christ, we can only do our physical and sincere best in our areas of work and pray for the will of God to be done, no matter what the results are.

And when God told Baruch not to seek great things and what He said in verse 4, it’s because what He has established through our hands, He can easily break them apart as well. If we become too proud of an achievement that we have made, how disappointed would we be if God were to completely negate that?

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase…”

– 1 Corinthians 3: 6

 

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear…

– Hebrews 12: 28

May God continue to guide His workers, that we would not be disheartened when we face disappointments and obstacles in our life of servitude. And may we pray that the will of God be done and not our own will…