GOD ABOVE ALL AND BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

By Fr. Felix (African Times Guest Writer)

The reading from a piece of autobiography of

the prophet, bitter and yet loyal. It is the second

record of Jeremiah’s confrontations with the

LORD whom he serves.

In a way it is a fierce struggle with his own

conscience and his awareness of God. He

bemoans the day of his birth, since he

acknowledges that he was always destined to

be a prophet and to give his unpalatable

message to the people, a message which would

involve him in unpopularity and persecution.

And yet it is the joy of his heart to be the

LORD’s messenger and to be called by the

LORD’s name.

In the second half of the passage the Lord

replies, surely from the depths of Jeremiah’s

heart, bracing him to continue his arduous

mission, and promising his lasting support.

The question is that which faces every

conscience under stress, summed up in the two

images: is Jeremiah to be a bronze wall which

no one may penetrate or injure, or is he to be an

unreliable stream, a wadi which flows

abundantly in the winter but dries up in the

summer, leaving only an empty track? The

same decision faces us all in trying to live

according to the gospel.

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