I will not mention him [God] or speak any more in his name. Jeremiah 20:9
Jeremiah thought about quitting. “I will move out of public life. I will give up my ministry. Maybe I will go into retirement.” But when he thought about all of this, he found that he couldn’t do it.
God wouldn’t let him go. “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” (20:9). “I can’t live with what you have called me to do, and I can’t live without it. It’s not fair! What am I supposed to do?”
You got me into this, Lord! You never told me that it would be like this! “Oh Lord, you deceived me and I was deceived, you overpowered me and prevailed” (20:7).
Have you ever felt like God tricked you into doing something for him? Have you ever felt like quitting on God, like giving up on ministry, or turning back on something God called you to do? Have you experienced, like Jeremiah, a sense that God would not let you go? What happened?
