Jeremiah 15:10-11
“Woe is me, my mother, That you have borne me, A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent for interest, Nor have men lent to me for interest. Every one of them curses me. The LORD said: “ Surely it will be well with your remnant; Surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you In the time of adversity and in the time of affliction.”
Consider that, until the point of Jeremiah 15, God has as yet done nothing more, to the House of Judah, than what He told Amos He would always do: He would do nothing until he has revealed His secret to His servants the prophets (see Amos 3:7). Yet, the information He has provided Jeremiah has overwhelmed him. The prophet mouths the same formula Baruch would later utter, “Woe is me.” Is there anyone on “the whole earth” who understands what Jeremiah has gone through and who appreciates the work he is doing for God? Is he, like that mariner of old, alone in the wide, wide sea?
God’s response contains three elements:
1. A message of hope, assuring the prophet that he is not alone (verse 11).
2. A powerful rebuke, complete with a threat (Jeremiah 15:19).
3. A reminder of the grace He has afforded Jeremiah from the start (Jeremiah 15:20-21).
God starts out with a message of hope, promising Jeremiah that He will provide a remnant, a group of people who will survive the siege and the destruction of Judah. Jeremiah is not alone and will never be alone. By His use of the term “your remnant,” God indicates that Jeremiah will “own” this group; he will be its leader. “Surely it will be well with your remnant; surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you in the time of adversity and in the time of affliction” (verse 11).
It was the worst of times back then, yet not so bad as the coming time of Jacob’s Trouble and the Great Tribulation. God demands that His people be faithful. Should we come to doubt God’s reliability and His faithfulness, or should we come to feel He has abandoned His people, we may want to consider God’s words to Jeremiah: “If you change your heart and return to me, I will take you back. Then you may serve me” (Jeremiah 15:18, New Century Version).
Our faithful God will not forget His plans for us, even though we may come to forget His promises to us.
