Burning Up

“But if I say, ‘I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,’ His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.”—Jeremiah 20:9 (NIV)

So says Jeremiah the prophet. Jeremiah had a difficult task. He was to speak God’s words to a people that did not want to hear them. He spoke to people who couldn’t care less about God and who for all intents and purposes lived their lives with complete disregard for God. Jeremiah continued to speak. He spoke no matter what threats came and no matter what people thought of him. It was difficult, extremely difficult. He had an extremely hard time talking to a people that would not listen. He was so focused and full of God’s Word that he has earned the moniker, “the Weeping Prophet.” He wept because his people did not listen to God’s words of warning and coming judgment; indeed, they would not. He wept because they were rejecting God’s best for their lives by embracing a much cheaper substitute that promised the world, but delivered dust.

God’s Word is like a fire, and fire by nature consumes. Jeremiah could not suppress God’s words; indeed, it wore him out as he tried to keep them in. The Word of God controlled and consumed him in such a way that he was compelled to speak. He was burning up for Christ, so in love and enthralled with God that he was exploding from being filled with God’s words. We need that, to be consumed by Christ and have His words burn within us—to be warmed by its heat and overflowing so much with the fire coming out of our mouths, that other people, whose hearts are frigid, are melted by God’s grace, mercy and love. Unfortunately, we are not like that; on the contrary, we often are the complete opposite. With us, it’s easy to keep silent. But not so with Jeremiah, it was impossible to hold inside himself who God was and what He had done on behalf of man. It was more than a view of God that held him; it was his personal knowledge and experience of God that drove him.

What about us? What is our view of God? How enthralled are we by His majesty? How captivated are we by His love? Do we have a real picture as to what He is really like? We need a fresh vision of God. Our hearts are like the ice outside, frozen and impenetrable. We need to come into His presence and ask Him to melt the icicle of pride and sin so that our hearts might beat again to the tune of His matchless grace. We are called to be witnesses like Jeremiah, being consumed by God, unable to shut up about what He means to us. That’s my prayer for us, to burn for Jesus.

“Lord, allow us to be burning for You! Let Your Word burn like a fire in our hearts so that we cannot keep it in! Glorify Your name through us! Amen.”