Jeremiah 20:7-9 (NKJV)
“It’s Like Fire”
February 1, 2026
It was in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah to the 11th year of Zedekiah. Mattaniah was his birth name, and he was the last of King Josiah’s sons to sit on the throne in Judah, but Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon changed his name to Zedekiah. He was a vassal king with no real power. He was simply holding a title, and the evil Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar was pulling the strings. Today we live during difficult times with our government in ruin and puppets in high position. But history shows us that during times like these God did not call the elders of the nation or the experienced scribes or priests of the sons of Levi. No, He called a young adult about 21 years old and said, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou came forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” v.5 You see, God does not wait until the problem arises before He brings forth His solution! God has already made you ready and has a plan for your life. There are times when God will ask you to do things that are difficult. Can God accomplish His plans without you? Yes. But He asks you to participate in His plans because it strengthens your faith. We may face uncertainty, failure, fear, and suffering as we try to fulfill God’s plans for our lives. But God is with us every step of the way. He is working all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). Do you remember what Mordecai said to Queen Esther? “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” You may think you are too young or too inexperienced as Jeremiah did, but God is not in the business of failure! God has formed you and has sanctified you and has ordained you for such a time as this! Don’t resist the power of God in your life! He is like a fire shut up in your bones and He won’t leave you alone!
Setting: Jeremiah is told to buy a clay jar, take along Judah’s leaders, and go to a smoldering garbage dump outside the city (19:1–2). There he proclaimed God’s imminent judgment (vv. 3–9) and broke the jar, explaining that this symbolized the destruction God was about to bring upon the city (vv. 10–13). Back in the city, Jeremiah went to the temple and preached the same message to the masses (vv. 14–15). When Pashur, a priest charged with temple security, heard Jeremiah preach he had the prophet beaten and put in chains (20:1–2). The next day Jeremiah announced that God had given Pashur a new name, Magor-missabib which means, “terror on every side.” The priest and his family would be carried captive to Babylon, along with the temple treasures (vv. 3–6). But Jeremiah was a weeping prophet! When alone, the bold Jeremiah cries out to God in despair. Jeremiah knows the Lord is with him in all his hardships (vv. 11–13), but even the sense of God’s presence cannot console him. This is the last of Jeremiah’s recorded laments; it’s a human blending of grief and joy, prayer and despair, praise and perplexity. When you call to mind the sensitive nature of this man, you aren’t surprised that he’s on the mountaintop one minute and in the deepest valley the next. Jeremiah, however, lived above his moods and did the will of God regardless of how he felt. In this honest expression of his deepest emotions, the prophet dealt with three concerns: God’s Persuasion (7), Jeremiah’s Persecution (8), and how the Word of God will always Prevail ( 9).
He was Persuaded - His call. When the servants of God find themselves in trouble because they’ve been faithful in ministry, they’re often tempted to question their call and reconsider their vocation. What should we do? One of the first things they ought to do is talk to the Lord about it and tell Him your struggle. Moses said that God is not a man that He should lie, but Jeremiah felt that the Lord had not told him about the hardship of ministry, “You overpowered me and prevailed.” But when you review the account of Jeremiah’s call in the 1st chapter, you find no evidence that God had enticed him. The Lord had told him plainly that he would have a difficult time. If he trusted the Lord, however, He would make him a fortified city and a bronze wall before his enemies. God had warned His servant that the demands of ministry would increase, and he’d have to grow in order to keep going (12:5). What Jeremiah’s ministry was doing for the nation was important, but even more important was what Jeremiah’s ministry was doing for Jeremiah. As we serve the Lord, our capacity for ministry should increase and enable us to do much more than we ever thought we could do.
He was Persecuted – Having settled the matter of his call, Jeremiah then looked away from himself to the enemies around him. Faith doesn’t ignore problems; it faces them honestly and seeks God’s help in solving them. No matter how much he was constrained to preach God’s Word, Jeremiah had to deal with the fact that many people wanted him to keep quiet and would take the necessary steps to silence him. Pashur, the temple priest beat him and threw him in prison for preaching the Word of God. David said, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all" (Psalm 34:19). As V. Raymond Edman, former president of Wheaton College, often said to the students, “It’s always too soon to quit.” And it is!
But He Prevailed - Jeremiah resolved to quit being a prophet! He decided to keep his mouth shut and not even mention the Lord to anybody. But that didn’t work, because the message of God was like a burning in his heart and a fire in his bones. Jeremiah didn’t preach because he had to say something but because he had something to say and not saying it would have destroyed him. Paul said, “Yet when I preach the Gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). A song writer says, “It’s Like Fire, shut up in my bones. Like Jeremiah, it won't leave me alone. I’m gonna sing till your Almighty power comes around. The Spirit has got me so I can't sit down! It Feels like fire! Fire, shut up in my bones!”
