THE LESSONS
Jeremiah 20:7-13
For preaching Yahweh's message of doom, Jeremiah is persecuted but is confident of victory. Jeremiah expresses his inner turmoil as a prophet. True to God's Word, he preaches doom and destruction for the nation at the hands of the Babylonians as God's judgment upon their sins of idolatry and wickedness. For telling the truth of what is coming, he is ridiculed and thrown into stocks; friends wait to catch him in a word of treason. Because he loves his people, he is hurt by their non-acceptance and he takes his complaint to Yahweh whom he accuses of deceiving him as a virgin who is raped and of forcing him to be a prophet. He decides not to preach, but he has an inner compulsion that will not let him be silent. After his outburst of anger, he realizes Yahweh is …