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JEREMIAH
NEEDED TO REPENT Jeremiah has been amply noted as a great
man. Raymond Calkins, for example, said,
“There is no nobler, more militant or morally more splendid character to be
found in the whole range of Scripture.”
But Jeremiah was not sinless. For example, in Jeremiah 15:15-18, Jeremiah
prays about his persecutors and his pains, and concludes by wondering if God is
a “liar” or “deceitful” or “disappointing.”
The last words in Jeremiah’s prayer have been translated: ·
“Wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?”
(KJV). ·
“Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?”
(ESV) ·
“Are you going to disappoint me, like a stream that goes dry in the
summer?” (CEV) Commenting on this passage, our brother Wayne Jackson
wrote: Just as some of the Palestinian streams
provide fresh water in the rainy seasons, and then dry up in summer, Jeremiah
wonders if the Lord is going to “dry up” on him, i.e., withhold the strength
which he had earlier promised for the time of need (cf. 1:18-19). He gets very close to accusing God of
deceiving him. How does God respond to this? He tells Jeremiah to repent. God says, “"If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not
worthless, words, you will be my spokesman” (Jeremiah 15:19 NIV). Yes, even the best of people, even those
of the caliber of Jeremiah, will sin.
Solomon said it well: “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who
continually does good and who never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20 NASB). |