Jeremiah is not my idol.
In fact, not too many preachers aspire to be like Jeremiah. Too many bad things happened to him. Like the time in chapter 38 that the princes of Judea had had enough of Jeremiah’s ramblings. They cried to the King, “please let this man be put to death, because he is discouraging everyone. He is not helping us, he is hurting us with the things he says”. So the King said “whatever you guys want to do, I won’t stop you”.
So these princes threw him into the cistern or well in the middle of the prison court. At the bottom was mud which was probably as deep as three or four feet. It was so deep that Jeremiah became hopelessly stuck. They left him there to die, with no food or water. That was a mud bath no one wants to take.
Some eunuch named Ebed-Melech had pity on Jeremiah and went to King Zedikiah to appeal to his sense of reason. The King repented of his decision and commanded Ebed-Melech to take 30 men with ropes to pull Jeremiah out. After much work, they were able to pull him out, and Jeremiah stayed in the court of the prison.
What do you say when you are stuck in the mud? Did Jeremiah say “I’m Sorry, Get me out?” No, I think he kept on proclaiming God’s Message. In fact, I think his message became even louder because of the acoustics of the well.
So this blog is dedicated to the message of Jeremiah, who declared the message of God no matter where he was. Even when he was stuck in the mud. Here’s to you Jeremiah, the first “Mud Preacher”
Loving the Word with the MudPreacher 