He looked up and all he could see was a circle of blue. He looked down and watched the mud squish between his toes. And he wondered how he had ended up at the bottom of a pit hated by the very people he wanted to save.
His name was Jeremiah and he was not a bullfrog, no, he was a prophet. Not a prophet like Miss Cleo he was a prophet of God. He didn’t tell people that they would be lucky in love or lucky in lottery instead it was his job to proclaim the word of God for people to hear.
He was just a young man when God called him to this task. His father, Hilkiah, was a priest and it looked like Jeremiah was destined to follow in his footsteps. It wouldn’t have been a bad life, the priest and his family were provided for, his chores would have entailed the reading and interpretation of God’s word, preparing and making the sacrifices. As well he would have to be a presence around the temple, even though it was no longer central to the faith of the people of Israel.
And then God stepped into his life and informed Jeremiah that he wanted him to be his spokesman. Jeremiah’s first thought was “Me?” And so he did what most of us do when God asks us to do something, he made excuses. In his case in this particular instance he just told God that he was too young, who would listen to him, he was practically a kid.
But God wasn’t about to take no for an answer, so Jeremiah had one of two options. He could be obedient or he could be disobedient there really wasn’t much middle ground for him to waffle in. It’s the same today, Jeremiah’s time was 2500 years ago, he lived 600 years before the Messiah would come, and yet today those who follow God have the same two options. Obedience or disobedience.
And Jeremiah had been obedient to the call of God upon his life, and Jeremiah had preached the message that God wanted him to preach and now Jeremiah was standing in the bottom of a pit looking up at the blue sky overhead wondering where he had gone wrong. Have you ever been there? The bottom of the pit? Looking up? Wondering how you world had fallen out from beneath you?
Maybe the collapse was a health problem, you noticed a lump or had a pain in your chest and bang you’re at the bottom of the pit, or an economic problem, one day you are happily and gainfully employed and the next day the company has expanded your employment opportunities. Maybe it has to do with relationships, a marriage gone sour, a spouse who cheats, children who are alienated. Or perhaps it’s a spiritual struggle, for whatever reason it seems that you are going through a dry spell in your relationship with God and your prayers go no further then the ceiling.
You know what I mean, you’ve been there. And that’s where the hero of our story found himself, at the bottom of the pit.
The book of Jeremiah is the 24th book in the Bible and the 2 book in the section we refer to as the Major Prophets. Now the term major has nothing to do with the importance of these books and instead it is reflective of the length of the books. These books are considerably longer then the books that make up the Minor Prophets. The Author of this book is named, Jeremiah, he was a prophet. He dictated and his aide Baruch wrote down the prophecies. As I mentioned earlier this book was written about 600 years before the birth of Christ between 626 and 585 B.C. Like Isaiah Jeremiah was calling the people of Israel to repentance.
Jeremiah was born in a small village about an hours walk from Jerusalem. He was called as a young man to speak for God. During his life Jeremiah saw Israel turn from God and in turn it was defeated internally by immorality and externally by military might. He saw Jerusalem captured and pillaged and its residents forced into slavery or exile. And still they ignored Jeremiah’s warnings and pleas to turn back to God.
Now the problem with being a prophet is that it doesn’t necessarily make you the most popular kid on the block. You see the prophet’s message is not one of motherhood, apple pie and lower taxes. Prophets preach turn or burn messages, prophets don’t preach feel good sermons. Robert Schuller is not a prophet. As a matter of fact a prophet would starve to death as a TV preacher.
After one particular sermon that Jeremiah preached the powers that be decided that he wasn’t doing a great deal for public morale and so they decided to do something about it. Now in our church tradition if you don’t like the preacher you vote him out. Obviously a different time and different place because they threw him into an empty cistern, which is like a well. It wouldn’t have been right for them to kill a prophet of God but if he was at the bottom of a well without food and starved to death, then whose fault was that?
Jeremiah’s not the only person to end up at the bottom of a pit, in the bible we see a couple of other instances. Remember Joseph was thrown into a pit by his brothers and Daniel was tossed into the Lions Den, which was just a big pit. And people end up in pits for various reasons. I believe that Joseph ended up in a pit because he was a jerk. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. Joseph was his father’s favourite son and it’s true that God had revealed to Joseph through dreams that he would end up in a position to rule over his brothers. But did he really have to continually rub their noses in that knowledge?
Jeremiah was in a pit for proclaiming the word of God. I’ve known pastors through the years who have been forced to leave their church because people were upset with their preaching. Hasn’t happened to me, but we have had people leave BCC because they didn’t like the message. And with the passing of bill C250 in parliament you can be assured the day will come when a pastor denounces homosexuality from the pulpit and he winds up in court.
And Daniel was in a pit because he was obedient to God, the law said he wasn’t to pray and he responded with “I must pray” and pray he did. And as a result he was thrown in a pit full of lions.
And you know what it’s like to look at the world from the bottom of a pit, maybe it was your fault and maybe it wasn’t but that doesn’t change the fact that the bottom of the pit is not a nice place to be. And so this morning we are going to look at some of the things you can learn from the bottom of the pit. Now I know that today is Father’s Day and Angela said that my message should be a Father’s Day message. And we don’t know if Jeremiah was a father or not, but if he was then these are things that a Father can learn from the bottom of the pit.
1) You Learn to Look Up. When you are in a pit the best view is often up. You can look at the mud at the bottom of the pit, but that’s just plain depressing, you can focus on the stark, barren walls that are devoid of a foothold and that is discouraging And looking up can help you see a lot of things. It helps you to see God. You know too often God is an afterthought in the good life. When everything is going well, you have a great job, healthy kids, a loving spouse, you kind of figure that you deserve it. After all you are a nice person, you’ve worked hard. And God doesn’t really enter the picture. Oh you say grace before your meals, God is great God is good and we thank him for this food, Amen. When the pastor is praying we try to pray as well, I mean that’s only right. Unless of course you’re reading the Penn of Denn or counting the tiles on the floor, or wondering how much longer the pastor will be.
But when things take a turn for the worse, you lose your job. Your kids get sick, your marriage starts to fail. Then it’s a whole new kettle of fish, a horse of a different colour, you know what I mean. Then you have God on speed dial. “Hello God, help, my little boy is sick.” “Hello God, help, I just got fired” “Hello God, help, we’re having problems in our marriage.”
Sometimes it takes a turn for the worse in order for us to discover the truth that David
acknowledged in Psalm 121:1-2 I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth!
And so if being in the pit teaches us to rely on God then it’s a cheap lesson.
But looking up also causes us to see beyond the present reality to a preferred future. It’s easy when you are in the pit to look around at the dark walls and the murky bottom and think: this is it, it will never get any better I might as well just give up and die. The health care system is the pits and so my child won’t get the care he needs, the economy is the pits and I’ll never get another job, and don’t even get me started on my spouse.
But if you look up you see the blue of the sky above. You can look beyond the bottom of the pit and beyond the walls and see where you could be and should be. Visualize what it will be like to be out of the pit, walking around enjoying the sunshine and getting on with life. You can’t dwell on the negative forever, well actually you can I’ve met people like that and you end up a negative, bitter old man or old lady regardless of your age. John A. McDonald, our first Prime Minister said, “When fortune empties her chamber pot on your head, smile and say; We are going to have a summer shower.”
Look Up!
Paul says something similar but with a little more finesse in Philippians 4:8 Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Look Up
2) You Learn to Look Down There are worse places to be then at the bottom of the pit. When you look down and see the ground let it remind you that you are still on the right side of the grass. I tell people if when you look in the mirror in the morning and there’s someone looking back that’s not a bad way to start the day.
There is an ad on the radio that drives me nuts, it’s for a pump company and it says something like: what’s worse then discovering you have no water. And I told Angela that I’m going to make a whole list of things that are worse then discovering you have no water and every time the ad comes on I’ll just call them and say something like “finding out you have cancer.” “Being fired” “Being poked in the eye with a sharp stick” “having your house burn down, your car stolen and your spouse leave you.” There’s always something worse. It’s like the man said “I was sad because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.” Of course you could always borrow his shoes he’s not going to need them.
Matthew Henry was an English preacher and Author in the late 1600s one day while travelling he was robbed and I love what he said in response to his misfortune “I thank Thee first because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth because it was I who was robbed, and not I who robbed.”
Remember it could always be worse.
3) You Learn Who Your Friends Are or who they aren’t. In the scripture that Ruth read earlier we discover that while Jeremiah’s in the pit, wondering if anyone cares there is someone who is going to bat for him. Ebed-melech a high official in the court heard what had happened to Jeremiah and goes to the king and says you can’t allow this to happen, and the King arranges for Jeremiah to be pulled from the pit. It’s when you are down that you find out who your friends really are. The philosopher William Nelson wrote: You’ll Always Have Someone
And if you ever find, That fate is unkind, An’ the devil starts takin’ his dues.
When your fair weather friends, Leave when fair weather ends,
There’ll be someone waiting for you.
And it’s disappointing to find out who doesn’t stick with you, but at least you know where you stand. But it is so refreshing to know that there are people who will stick with you through thick and thin. Cicero said “Friends are proved by adversity.” and Euripides (yur rip e dees) said “Friends show their love in times of trouble...” and Jim Baker “When I went to prison I didn’t lose any friends, I just found out who my friends really were.”
And if there are no friends waiting for you at the top of the pit keep in mind Jesus’ words in John 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a master doesn’t confide in his servants. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. And the promise of Romans 8:38-39 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I don’t know your pit but I know your God. And remember what the Bible says in Hebrews 13:5 “I will never fail you. I will never forsake you.” And in Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid of them! The Lord your God will go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you.” And in 1 Kings 6:13 (God said I will) never forsake my people.” 1 Chronicles 28:20 the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. You get the picture. God didn’t forget Joseph when he was in the pit, he didn’t forget Jeremiah when he was in the pit, he didn’t forget Daniel when he was in the pit and he won’t forget you no matter how dark your pit seems.
Hope you enjoyed the message, Powerpoint is available for it, just email me at denn@powerpoint4preaching.com
