“Don’t quit. The truth matters.” These were the words a speaker at my seminary spoke during a time when I wanted to quit. I was tired and overwhelmed with the number of papers I had to write and tests I had to take, and I wanted to quit. When I heard these five words spoken by the chapel speaker at my seminary, I knew God was using those words to tell me not to quit. Everything I was learning at seminary was training me and equipping me to serve others well. What I was doing mattered, and I knew I could not quit. I am thankful for the encouragement I received that day when I wanted to give up. Sometimes we need someone to look us straight in the eye and say, “Don’t quit.”
The prophet Jeremiah is a poignant example of someone who never gave up. He faced oppositions and rejection throughout his ministry, yet he never quit spreading God’s messages. Yesterday we read in Jeremiah 20 about a time he faced opposition and persecution for spreading God’s messages of repentance. Despite the opposition and cruelty that he faced, Jeremiah did not quit. He clung to God. As he prayed, he recalled this truth: “But the Lord stands beside me like a great warrior. Before Him my persecutors will stumble. They cannot defeat me. They will fail and be thoroughly humiliated. Their dishonor will never be forgotten” (Jeremiah 20:10-11). He knew God was with him, so he persisted. In fact, for 21 more chapters of Jeremiah, we read about him continuing to prophesy for God. Jeremiah did not quit his calling from God. He knew that the truth of the words God gave him to prophesy mattered, so he persevered.
Just like God’s calling for Jeremiah mattered greatly, God’s calling on your life matters. You must not quit. Maybe you are tired, and you have faced so much opposition that you just want to stop, even if you know God has called you to continue. Let me encourage you. Keep going. Don’t quit—the truth matters.
Are you feeling weary? Are you tired, ready to give up? Don’t quit. What you are doing matters. Make a list right now of why what you are doing matters. Go back to that list often so that you can be encouraged to keep pressing on, even when you are tired and ready to quit. Keep going on. What you are doing matters.
Now Pashhur son of Immer, the priest in charge of the Temple of the Lord, heard what Jeremiah was prophesying. So he arrested Jeremiah the prophet and had him whipped and put in stocks at the Benjamin Gate of the Lord’s Temple.
The next day, when Pashhur finally released him, Jeremiah said, “Pashhur, the Lord has changed your name. From now on you are to be called ‘The Man Who Lives in Terror.’[a] For this is what the Lord says: ‘I will send terror upon you and all your friends, and you will watch as they are slaughtered by the swords of the enemy. I will hand the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will take them captive to Babylon or run them through with the sword. And I will let your enemies plunder Jerusalem. All the famed treasures of the city—the precious jewels and gold and silver of your kings—will be carried off to Babylon. As for you, Pashhur, you and all your household will go as captives to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you prophesied that everything would be all right.’”
Jeremiah’s Complaint
O Lord, you misled me,
and I allowed myself to be misled.
You are stronger than I am,
and you overpowered me.
Now I am mocked every day;
everyone laughs at me.
When I speak, the words burst out.
“Violence and destruction!” I shout.
So these messages from the Lord
have made me a household joke.
But if I say I’ll never mention the Lord
or speak in his name,
his word burns in my heart like a fire.
It’s like a fire in my bones!
I am worn out trying to hold it in!
I can’t do it!
I have heard the many rumors about me.
They call me “The Man Who Lives in Terror.”
They threaten, “If you say anything, we will report it.”
Even my old friends are watching me,
waiting for a fatal slip.
“He will trap himself,” they say,
“and then we will get our revenge on him.”
But the Lord stands beside me like a great warrior.
Before him my persecutors will stumble.
They cannot defeat me.
They will fail and be thoroughly humiliated.
Their dishonor will never be forgotten.
O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
you test those who are righteous,
and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets.
Let me see your vengeance against them,
for I have committed my cause to you.
Sing to the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
For though I was poor and needy,
he rescued me from my oppressors.
Yet I curse the day I was born!
May no one celebrate the day of my birth.
I curse the messenger who told my father,
“Good news—you have a son!”
Let him be destroyed like the cities of old
that the Lord overthrew without mercy.
Terrify him all day long with battle shouts,
because he did not kill me at birth.
Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb,
that her body had been my grave!
Why was I ever born?
My entire life has been filled
with trouble, sorrow, and shame.
