The word that burns deep
An obligation is laid upon me,
And woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! 1 Corinthians 9:16
Read Jeremiah 15:15—21
Let me think. When was the last time that God seemed to put his word so deeply and strongly in me that I wanted to speak it to someone else? It burned. It could actually have been sweet to me. It could have been a delight. But, for all that, did I say it? And was it also a delight to the other? Or, if I did not say it, is that because I had a stealthy fear that it would not be a delight, that it would rebound? Let me dwell on the matter tonight, on my own motives, and learn from the prophet, and learn from Jesus. If Jesus is the word of God, if the word of God is God’s love expressed and enacted, I had better be ready for the word to be painful. When it’s love that’s involved, suffering can’t be avoided. To love means to be willing to suffer. Doesn’t it?
Prayer
Lord, thank you for the prophets. Thank you for speaking through suffering men and women, for so pressing in upon them, on Jeremiah and on Amos and on Philip and his daughters, all of them, that they must speak and bear the consequences. Thank you that when your word took flesh and lived among us he bore the pain of speaking to those who would not hear.[1] Let me so welcome what you say to me that I will be ready to share it with a love deeper than my friends ever knew or suspected.
[1] Mark 4:9,12