Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Stuart Briscoe today looks once again at Jeremiah's story and from it offers advice and encouragement on when and how to speak the truth, even if it makes you uncomfortable. We'll hear from Stuart in just a moment.

When life's storms suddenly come your way, how do you respond? Do you doubt God's presence, questioning his concern for you? Or do you see storms as part of God's plan for your life and rest assured he cares for you and is in control of all things? We want to help you trust in God's care and control in all the storms you face by sending you Jill Briscoe's message, Weathering the Storms of Life, as well as a set of 12 beautifully designed scripture cards to encourage you in troubled times.

In Weathering the Storms of Life, Jill teaches from the Gospel of Mark, examining the disciples' experience in a sudden storm to address the issues of suffering and faith, challenging you to examine your belief in God in the midst of trouble. Her teaching and the scripture cards will encourage you as you discover how you can be sure of God's love for you and his control over every circumstance, no matter how sudden, severe, or unexpected.

Weathering the Storms of Life and the set of 12 scripture cards are our thanks for your gift to help more people experience life through the teaching and resources of Telling the Truth. So request your copy when you give today. 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now here's Stuart with the second part of his message about the reluctant prophet.

Stuart Briscoe: I want to tell you something. It's a common problem among God's people. On the one hand we talk about oh how God created us and we are his children, etc, etc, and then we hear what he tells us to do and immediately say, "Who me? Oh Lord, here am I, send her! Oh Lord, I can't do that. Oh I can't do this," and we become overwhelmed with inadequacy. Now get this straight. It is most appropriate to be overwhelmed with inadequacy just so long as you don't stay there.

For you see, God then immediately comes back to Jeremiah and he says, "Jeremiah, let me talk to you about this. I am not stupid. When I made you, I made you fundamentally ideal for what I have in mind, just so long as you bear two things in mind. The first one is this: I'm going to put my words in your mouth. And the second one is this: and I will be with you."

Now you put these two things together. It is most appropriate for Jeremiah to feel inadequate. Totally appropriate. But it is totally inappropriate for him to stay there in light of the fact that God says in the area of your inadequacy, you say you can't speak, I will put my words in your mouth. So that deals with that one. And the fact that you are a child, I'll deal with that one too, for I will be with you.

Now a child with God and somebody who can't speak with the word of the Lord in his mouth understands how inadequate and insufficient he is, but at the same time recognizes that his sufficiency is of God. And that's the lesson. That is the fundamental lesson that God is getting across to Jeremiah.

This is something we've got to grasp, this whole business of communicating truth. I don't know why it's such a problem for us so often, but we go out into our culture and we're there to live differently and to live in a challenging, winsome way that will put people on inquiry, and we're there to articulate truth in the midst of all the confusion and the trouble that surrounds us. But so often we become, as somebody has said, like the mouth of the Saint Lawrence in winter. We become frozen at the mouth when it comes to really articulating that which we profess to know of the Lord.

I remember somebody coming to me one time after I'd been talking like this and they said, "Stuart, I have a problem." And I said, "Do you want to talk about it?" Said, "Yes." I said, "What's your problem?" They said, "I can't speak. I just can't speak." Now this posed a problem for me because through the medium of speech, they were explaining to me that they could not use the medium of speech. "I cannot speak." So I didn't say that. I was a Christian, so I just thought it.

But I did say to them, "Now just let me make sure I've got this straight. You cannot speak?" "That's right." "Well, could you explain to me what those sound waves are that are emanating from the hole under your nose?" And they said, "Oh, British humor." And I said, "No. No. No. It's a genuine question. It's a genuine question." The reality is this, that we can speak with great enthusiasm on subjects that interest us.

I know for a fact, a lot of you grandmothers who, "Oh, I can't speak to my culture," so I change the subject. "You have any grandchildren?" "Oh yes, would you like to see?" You see, and they go on, you can't stop them. You can't stop them. See somebody wearing the green and gold and I ask them about the Packers and what's happening and who signed who and what's happening with the Bucks and so on, they're off, you can't stop them.

What's the problem? What's the problem? If he's going to put his words in my mouth and I feel desperately inadequate, that's right. But I cannot stay there. I've got to reckon with the fact that he will be with me at the time. "Jeremiah, listen to me. Do not say that you're a child. How dare you try to tell me how old you are? What have I just told you? I've told you that I know a whole lot more about your age than you do because I was involved in your mother's womb, in fact I was involved before your mother's womb, so let's have no more talk about how old you are."

"You will go to where I'm sending you and you will speak what I'm commanding you. Oh by the way, let me explain to you," he said, "it will be difficult. It will be very difficult because prophets are not usually the most popular people. Prophets very often are the people who tell people what they don't want to hear, who are telling them what they need to do that they don't want to do, telling them that they shouldn't be doing what they are which they've every intention of continuing to do. And so life insurance for prophets has very high premiums."

"It's going to be very, very difficult for you, Jeremiah, but you need to understand something. I am going to make you like a tower. I'll make you like a fortified city. I will make you..." and he goes on and he gives all these powerful images of what he's going to make Jeremiah. And Jeremiah says, "Oh Lord God. Oh Lord God. I don't want this job. That's not what I want to be. I don't want to be what you made me to be."

Well, what do you want to be then, Jeremiah? What could be more important than being what God created you to be? What could be more significant than wanting to be what God had in mind for you before he formed you in your mother's womb? What could be more important than that? Eventually the reluctant teenager says, "Lord, okay." And that is a glad moment. That is a glad moment for a person who's beginning to understand who they are and how they were made.

"Jeremiah, what did you see over there?" "Oh, I see an almond tree. Oh, it's beautiful, Lord. It's in blossom." That's right. That was no surprise in actual fact because Jeremiah lived in Anathoth, a little town that was just about ten miles away from Jerusalem. In fact on a clear day you can see the walls of Jerusalem from Anathoth where he lived. And you could also look down into the valley and see the great plain and the Dead Sea down in Jericho down in the valley.

"What do you see?" "I see an almond tree." Yes, of course you do, because Anathoth is known for its almond trees. And springtime it is ablaze with the blossoms of the almond trees. Rather like Washington DC in springtime is full of cherry blossom. And the English Lake District where I grew up is ablaze with daffodils in springtime. So Anathoth, wherever you looked, there was the almond tree in blossom.

"Yes, look at the almond tree, Jeremiah." "Why should I look at the almond tree, God?" "Because it will remind you that I am watching over you and I am watching your word." Now that is totally lost on us. It is absolutely lost on us. What in the world is he talking about? Well, what he is talking about is this: the Hebrew word for almond is "shaqed." And the Hebrew word for watch is "shoqed." And God is using a little pun here. British humor.

A little pun. You see the shaqed? Well, every time you see the shaqed, think of the shoqed. What is the point he's making? The point he's making is this: look at the almond tree and every time you see the almond tree and you can't move around here without seeing one, remember two things. Number one, that I am keeping my eye on you. And number two, and I am keeping my eye on my word and the effect that it is having in people's lives as the word of the Lord comes to them.

"Come on, Jeremiah, you can do it. I will keep my eye on you, and I will keep my eye on the word, and all you've got to do is faithfully do what I've told you to do and say what I've told you to say and go where I've told you to go, for this is why you were born, Jeremiah. What else do you see, Jeremiah?" "I see a pot." "What's happening to it?" "It's on the fire and it's tipped over."

"What's happening?" "Well, because it's tipped over, it's tipped over from the north. Stuff is spilling out of it." "Yes, Jeremiah, and I want you to look at it. I want you to look at it. You see all that boiling, seething stuff coming out red hot, burning, dangerous, as the pot is tilting away from the north?" "I see that, Lord." "Keep away from it, Jeremiah." "I'm keeping away from it, Lord."

"I want you to understand the day is coming, listen Jeremiah, the day is coming when because of the unrelenting sin of Judah, because of the encroaching apostasy of my people, because of the ways that they have forsaken me, because of the ways that they're blatantly living in a manner that is deeply offensive to me, I, the holy, righteous, just God must judge my people unless they come to repentance. And the judgment will come in the form of mighty armies coming in from the north.

And they will come and they will destroy Judah like they destroyed Israel, and they will devastate Jerusalem, and they will rob the beautiful things from the temple, and they will raze the temple, and there'll be nothing but barrenness there. Thus saith the Lord. Jeremiah, that's your message." "Lord, I didn't want to be a prophet in the first place, and I sure don't want to have to tell anybody that."

"You will go to those I send you, and you will say what I've told you to say. And that's your message. For my people need to understand something." "But what they need to understand?" "Well, let me suggest many things here, but it's almost time to quit. Let me suggest two things here. My people need to understand that I, the Lord, am actively involved in international affairs as they relate to the nations." Does that ring a bell?

"That I, the Lord, am actively involved in international affairs as they relate to the nations. The second thing they need to know is this: that I, the Lord, am merciful and longsuffering and gracious, loving and tender and holy and righteous and just. And the way Judah is going, following the example of Israel and ignoring what I did to Israel, they need to know that justice and holiness and righteousness demands that my judgment will come upon them and it's going to happen, Jeremiah. Tell them it's going to happen and bring them to repentance."

And for 40 years he tried. And they wouldn't listen. And they went deeper and deeper into their apostasy all the time under a veneer of religious respectability. And in the end the judgment came, and Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people went into exile. Is there a lesson here for you and for me? Oh yes. Here's a lesson that we can draw from it.

Number one, God is not a pacifist. God is not a pacifist. It is impossible to read the Bible without seeing that God at times will bring judgment upon the nations in the form of war. That does not mean that we casually enjoy war, particularly if we're sitting on the outside looking in. For the other side of the equation is this: as Jeremiah takes the message of God's impending judgment and of his involvement in international affairs and the inevitability of war and bloodshed, Jeremiah says, "Oh that I wish that my eyes were a fountain because I've just cried and cried and cried and cried."

So whilst God is not a pacifist, it breaks the heart of God and it breaks the heart of God's people to see the inhumanity of man to man that takes place in warfare. Is this a message for us today? Yes, it is. For we need to recognize that God always has been and always will be involved in international affairs. That he is not removed from the world that he created. That he is working out his eternal purposes, and at times judgment is necessary and sometimes judgment comes in the form of war.

God is not a pacifist. But we should never enjoy it and we should never rejoice in it, and we should never lapse into an unthinking, uncaring nationalism, and we should never sit in front of CNN and watch all the intelligent weapons as if we're simply watching a video game, and laugh and cheer when we see the missile go down the chimney of a factory and see it go up in smoke because there are lives being devastated and bodies being mangled and people swept into eternity, and it should break our hearts.

And the simple fact of the matter is this, that Jeremiah was called to be a prophet which meant that he was to bring truth to troubled times. And sisters and brothers, you and I live in troubled times. And the church of Jesus Christ better make sure that at this time she is living the truth and sharing the truth even when people may not want to listen because he's given us his word and he's put his word in our mouth so we'll speak it and live it. And he promises to be with us at all times. The call of Jeremiah.

Guest (Male): Stuart, what encouragement do you have for that person who just hasn't found their purpose, what God created them for?

Stuart Briscoe: Well, I'm sure there are many people, and if you ask them, "What do you believe is God's purpose for your life?" they really wouldn't know how to answer that because they haven't really put together a thought that there is a purpose in life and, secondly, that God is the one who ordained that purpose. So perhaps we need to break the question down a little bit and perhaps start off by asking a question that I ask people repeatedly.

In fact, just a few minutes ago, I had breakfast with a gentleman I hadn't met before, and one of the questions I asked him was, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" And he said, "Well, that's the question I haven't really thought about," and he was 51 years of age. So I wouldn't start off by asking people what is the purpose for which God created you. I would ask them what is it that really interests you? What is it that you really can do? What is it that you're intrigued in learning how to do?

And then if you can get them talking in those terms, get them excited about a sense of intentionality, then you can take them a step further and say, "Do you realize that quite possibly you are discovering what God wired you up to do in the first place?"

Guest (Male): What if a believer isn't thrilled with what God is calling them to do? How can they, like Jeremiah, have a heart change?

Stuart Briscoe: Well, I've no doubt that many people are less than thrilled with some of the things that God is calling them to do. But there's nothing new in that either. There's something deep down in the human ego that is resistant to what God says very often. So what is needed is first of all a recognition of the fact that God is God and we are not.

The prime example of this, of course, is this: when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and he was contemplating the fact that he was going to go to the cross and that the Father had called him to do this, clearly he was less than thrilled about that. But in the end he said, "I'd like not to do it. If it's possible, let's find another way of doing it, Father, but not my will but yours be done."

So I would say it's perfectly legitimate for people to say, "Lord, what you're asking me to do, I'm not thrilled about it, I don't really want to do it, it frightens me to death, but in the end, you're God and I'm not and so I'll do the logical thing and I'll say I am willing to do what you want me to do. And if necessary, I am willing to be made willing."

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today here on Telling the Truth. We pray today's message has helped you to experience life in all its fullness through Jesus Christ. Many of our listeners are now living that kind of abundant life. Jill wrote, "I listen every day to your broadcast. This is one of my foundations of learning and listening to our Lord teach through all of you. We're so grateful for your dedication to growing us all up in the fullness of God. I so love all of you. May our Lord pour out his blessings upon you for all you sacrificially give us."

When life's storms suddenly come your way, how do you respond? Do you doubt God's presence, questioning his concern for you? Or do you see storms as part of God's plan for your life and rest assured he cares for you and is in control of all things? We want to help you trust in God's care and control in all the storms you face by sending you Jill Briscoe's message, Weathering the Storms of Life, as well as a set of 12 beautifully designed scripture cards to encourage you in troubled times.

Weathering the Storms of Life and the set of 12 scripture cards are our thanks for your gift to help more people experience life through the teaching and resources of Telling the Truth. So request your copy when you give today. 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Tomorrow, it's one thing when God wants to use you to speak to an individual. But what happens when God chooses you to speak for him to a nation? Stuart Briscoe shares more wisdom from his series, Truth for Troubled Times, next time on Telling the Truth.