Don't Miss the Message in the Mire

Jeremiah was a very interesting man.

The nation of Israel had a very distinct cycle that she went through in her relationship with the Lord.

Jeremiah was given the privilege to be the one to preach the Word of the Lord to a nation that for the most part was determined to go to hell in a hand basket.

The people would listen, but the leadership would not hear of repenting. After all, they were the leaders so there could be no problems right? Wrong. Hence the need for a message from a messenger named Jeremiah.

In fact, in chapter thirty six, we find God telling Jeremiah to write down the judgment that God was preparing to drop and have that read to the people. The people were afraid so they funneled it to the king. When the king heard God’s word explained to him, he cut up the portions that he did not like and focused on the portion that seemed to fit his ideals. He ended up burning it altogether.

Since Jeremiah delivered the message, obviously he was the real problem; the King demanded that Jeremiah be silenced. Not only did the king destroy the message, but he sought to destroy the messenger.

Chapter thirty seven continues the tug of war between Jeremiah and the people who claimed to be the Lord’s people.

Verse two tells us that neither the king nor his servants heeded God’s words, but they still took the time to go through the motions of feigning and interest in Him. Appearances were everything at this point and as long as they appeared on the outside to be interested in God’s message then that had to count for something right?

Verse four uses the phrase regarding Jeremiah, “They had not yet put him into prison”. This indicates a future event that is going to happen to him.

The thing about God’s word that gets us is that it very often differs from our agendas. There may just come a day when God, in His mercy to you, sends a Jeremiah into your kingdom. This Jeremiah will be a person that has an obvious and established walk with the Lord and they are brought to you to challenge your agenda. This is from the Lord so be careful how you deal with this Jeremiah. It helps to just ask the Lord, “Lord, why did you send someone here (or in some cases several some ones) that love you, but they are just not ON BOARD with my plans and way of doing things?”

It very well may be that somewhere along the way it has become more about your goals and your agendas than it has about His goals and His agendas! Please understand, it is possible to have His name stamped on everything you have to offer, but the frightening truth is that He is no longer working there anymore and what is seen to be God’s hand is the sole result of forced will power from the king and his princes.

Jeremiah delivers the message of defeat to the king and then he leaves the kingdom. He knew what talking to a wall looked like.

Insecure people take God’s moving as an attack against their kingdom and against themselves personally. The king takes Jeremiah’s leave as just such an attack and has him thrown into prison. Out of sight out of mind and now he could consider Jeremiah officially shunned!

Chapter thirty eight is where the message lies!!!

The king needed to isolate Jeremiah from everyone else in his kingdom; because there was a chance someone would look around and ask, “Hey, where is Jeremiah been lately?”

 

Jeremiah is then thrown into an even deeper prison. The prison is so deep that the ones putting Jeremiah away use ropes to lower him into it. If you speak the Lord’s message where He places you, don’t be surprised if it is taken as a threat to man’s agendas. This is exactly why the Lord gives you the opportunity to speak the message where man’s agendas are superseding His.

When Jeremiah reaches the bottom of this pit, he sinks into deep and disgusting mire.
Jeremiah is now in a light less place. It is dank and it smells of forgotten and abandoned. The only sound now is his own breathing , tears, and weakening voice.

Oh yes, there is also the powerful opportunity to hear the Lord’s voice!

I imagine that the mire confused Jeremiah more than a little bit. Surely he could be far more useful to the Lord speaking in the busy gate or walking among the people? He might even have preferred to at least be in the prison on the surface.

 

I have three little children and often they need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and they cry out for help in finding the bathroom. I go to their rooms and take their hands and tell them to, “Just follow daddy” as I lead them where they need to go. They cling tight to me as we walk in an environment where they cannot see. Sometimes God allows us to be placed in a dark situation so we can cling tightly to Him and remember who our trust needs to be in.

 

No one wants the MIRE in life.

The MIRE is where our footing is unsure.
The MIRE is where we feel alone and forgotten.
The MIRE a place where our own tears are all that can seem to be heard.
The MIRE is a place that feels deep and removed.

Most of us find ways to avoid the MIRE, because we detest even the faintest smell of it.

The truth is hard to read here, but:

“THE MIRE CONTAINS THE MESSAGE”

 

1.GOD IS AWARE OF THE MIRE.

I realize how easy it is for us to tell Jeremiah that God was in control all along because we have what Jeremiah did not. We have the book of Jeremiah. We have the whole story.

May I just remind you if you are in a miry place in your life right now that God has your whole story!

What Jeremiah could not see is that while he was in the mire, God was preparing an Ethiopian man to pull him out of that mire!

“Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin; Ebedmelech went forth out of the king's house, and spake to the king, saying, My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city. Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die. So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.”
                                                                                                ~Jeremiah 38:7-13
Did you catch it?

It brought tears to my eyes as I read it. Why didn’t it just say, “So they pulled Jeremiah out of the pit”?

Our God is a God of details! The underarm is a very weak and tender place and God did not just deliver Jeremiah but every detail right down to the old clothes and rags used was planned by God!

God has prepared the deliverance for you and for me already. He has set aside the people, the ropes, and even the proverbial old clothes that He is going to use. God thinks of every detail!

2.THE MESSAGE IS IN THE MIRE.

While Jeremiah was in the mire, God speaks to him and uses the very mire to prepare the words and emotions with Jeremiah that will be needed to convey the final message to the king in exactly the way it would be needed to be conveyed.

He is released from the mire pit and now God has brought the king before Jeremiah to hear the last message.

Notice the words used in verse twenty two.

”And, behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those women shall say, Thy friends have set thee on, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back.” ~Jeremiah 38:22

There is the mire again…

God has a message for you in the times of mire and you are either going to catch the message while in the mire or miss the message because of the mire.
That message is for you to use and he is providing the perfect blend of emotions and experience to help someone else that is at this very moment approaching their mire.

If you are in the mire right now, I want to encourage you that God IS aware and that He has every detail of your deliverance in motion. He has a message in the mire that you need to get.

Instead of struggling with the mire, look at your surroundings and just listen. God’s voice is easier to hear in the quiet times of mire than in the bustle of a gate. Listen for your message.

Instead of struggling with the Mire, loot at your surroundings and listen. Listen for your message. Others are waiting to hear that message that you have been allowed to receive.

Climbing with you,

~Dan