God called Jeremiah to speak for him. The message was not pleasant. His own countrymen would be taken captive, and many of them would be killed. His whole nation would be ruined. The prophet explained that the Lord had determined to punish them, and it was too late for prayer and repentance. To submit to God’s will and to limit the casualties, they were to surrender to their enemies and serve their time in exile. For this message, Jeremiah was branded a traitor, although in his age there was no one more faithful than he.

The message was not only painful for Jeremiah to speak, but the backlash against him was also difficult to endure. Thus he complained against the Lord in chapter 12. Instead of offering what Christians today would call a compassionate response, God told him to become stronger, for even more trying times were soon to come. But by chapter 15, Jeremiah was at it again. He said, “Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? Will you be to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails?” (v. 18).

The context provided above is important, lest we think that the prophet was a weakling, bending to the wrath of men as a reed in the wind. No, he was an exemplar of spiritual power and moral courage, even a type of the Lord Jesus (Matthew 16:14). In terms of privilege, even the least of the Christians is greater than he. But in terms of the actual quality of service rendered to the Lord, he was worth more than five hundred thousand, nay, five hundred million, of what we so glibly call Christians today. This is not to say that he had an excuse, but rather, to show up our failures for the catastrophic displays of weakness, selfishness, and incompetence that they are.

At any rate, it was clear that Jeremiah faced much opposition and danger. In sheer anguish of mind, he cried out again. God was either unfamiliar with our counseling techniques, or he just did not want to produce spiritual losers like we do, so instead of indulging the weeping prophet, he rebuked him: “Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman.'” (v. 19). God did not even address his complaints directly, but straightway told the man to repent, and to stop speaking nonsense.

Those who have been with my ministry for very long should be comfortable with this. Even when I was a teenage preacher, my counseling would make adults two to three times my age weep, with tears streaming down their faces. My words were so much more severe that their problems appeared insignificant by comparison. But when they listened, they did not settle back into a mode of endless endurance. Rather, they fought and overcame their problems. This kind of counsel is not always appropriate, especially when counseling losers who would never amount to anything for the Lord. Sometimes the best one can do is to keep people from committing suicide. Am I trying to be humorous, or just frank? This is not always the right way to counsel, but it is certainly not always wrong, either.

If God told Jeremiah to repent, how much more does he despise your petty whining? As mentioned in a previous discourse, there is a common teaching that it is understandable to harbor doubt, anger, and resentment against God, and that when we do, we are to freely express these thoughts to him. Those who teach this horrible doctrine obtain examples from the prophets and the psalms, but they fail to acknowledge that those instances are marked by God’s disapproval and the speakers’ own repentance. To illustrate, God recorded the incident of David’s sin with Bathsheba, not so that you too might commit murder and adultery, but so that you will not do these things, seeing the many deaths and tragedies that God brought upon David’s family and nation because of his sins.

Those who urge this kind of complaining prayer teach God’s people to blaspheme. They ought to be confronted and compelled to repent for spreading rebellion among the saints. They are losers, and they want you to be losers like them. Do not listen to them. Do not blaspheme. When oppressive thoughts arise, do not entertain them. Repent for the very feelings of dissatisfaction. Confront and destroy them with truth and reason. Do not speak against the Lord, but study the answers that he has already given in the Bible.

Christian doctrines, accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit, make weaklings into strong men and women. Paul wrote, “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” Those who grant license to feelings of victimhood and bitterness betray this gospel heritage. We enter the Christian life by way of the cross, but just as Christ was raised from the dead after his suffering, after the cross there is glory. After suffering, there is victory. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus, and we can have a taste of the power of heaven right here on earth, if we will only believe.