Jeremiah 15:10 – Self-Righteousness in Reserve
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Woe is me, my mother,
That you have borne me,
A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth!
I have neither lent for interest,
Nor have men lent to me for interest.
Every one of them curses me.
Under sedation to have a wisdom tooth pulled, biographer Stephen Ambrose reveals in Nixon: The Education of a Politician, Richard Nixon mumbled part of a campaign speech.
The same thing can happen, reveals the second half of Jeremiah 15:10, when the sedative is some aspect of depression because of results we hope in but haven't realized. For an instant, Jeremiah's open humility before the Lord is a model for the ages.
He confesses that he needs affirmation and identity in that moment that even his mother can't bequeath to him. But, like the squirming child asked to be part of a family photo, his spirit cannot stay still for long.
Even he, more mature than most men in the ways of faith, glimpsing well ahead of his peers his justification in the righteousness of Christ, has imbibed from the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve the habit of making a case for what he deserves. In addition to the hours he has spent with God laying his heart open in prayer, he has also spent hours in similar dealings to those undertaken by his fellow men. The wheat and the tares grow up side-by-side, similar for a while.
Not content to wait for the harvest which separates the two, and not the beneficiary of being consoled directly by the indwelling Holy Spirit as we are, Jeremiah tries to distinguish himself. He tries to make plain to God and any humans listening that he has been righteous in his human and material dealings. This rejection by his countrymen hurts more, he bleats, because he has treated them well. Making an argument similar to Job's, he says he hasn't taken advantage of those in need. Jeremiah also adds that he has been content with God's provision and hasn't been an irresponsible borrower.
How long, brothers and sisters, we pause in the first half of Jeremiah 15:10, confession of absolute need for God to continue to tell us who we are in Him, before presenting Exhibit A that we are more deserving than our contemporaries of His intervention? Rest in Him doesn't feel that restful when it is contrary to everything we have seen as normal in our dealings with men. It is a discipline, then, to be still and know that He is God – and we are not.
This is a discipline the New Testament believer can undertake, at least, with knowledge and assurance. When we stifle our pleas of our own righteousness, Christ and the Holy Spirit plead on our behalf, drawing not on snippets from our highlight film of our best dealings, but instead on all that Christ has done. Their closing argument could be made by Lauren Daigle in "You Say," "You have every failure, God. You have every victory."
Woe is me, my mother,
That you have borne me,
A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth!
I have neither lent for interest,
Nor have men lent to me for interest.
Every one of them curses me.
Under sedation to have a wisdom tooth pulled, biographer Stephen Ambrose reveals in Nixon: The Education of a Politician, Richard Nixon mumbled part of a campaign speech.
The same thing can happen, reveals the second half of Jeremiah 15:10, when the sedative is some aspect of depression because of results we hope in but haven't realized. For an instant, Jeremiah's open humility before the Lord is a model for the ages.
He confesses that he needs affirmation and identity in that moment that even his mother can't bequeath to him. But, like the squirming child asked to be part of a family photo, his spirit cannot stay still for long.
Even he, more mature than most men in the ways of faith, glimpsing well ahead of his peers his justification in the righteousness of Christ, has imbibed from the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve the habit of making a case for what he deserves. In addition to the hours he has spent with God laying his heart open in prayer, he has also spent hours in similar dealings to those undertaken by his fellow men. The wheat and the tares grow up side-by-side, similar for a while.
Not content to wait for the harvest which separates the two, and not the beneficiary of being consoled directly by the indwelling Holy Spirit as we are, Jeremiah tries to distinguish himself. He tries to make plain to God and any humans listening that he has been righteous in his human and material dealings. This rejection by his countrymen hurts more, he bleats, because he has treated them well. Making an argument similar to Job's, he says he hasn't taken advantage of those in need. Jeremiah also adds that he has been content with God's provision and hasn't been an irresponsible borrower.
How long, brothers and sisters, we pause in the first half of Jeremiah 15:10, confession of absolute need for God to continue to tell us who we are in Him, before presenting Exhibit A that we are more deserving than our contemporaries of His intervention? Rest in Him doesn't feel that restful when it is contrary to everything we have seen as normal in our dealings with men. It is a discipline, then, to be still and know that He is God – and we are not.
This is a discipline the New Testament believer can undertake, at least, with knowledge and assurance. When we stifle our pleas of our own righteousness, Christ and the Holy Spirit plead on our behalf, drawing not on snippets from our highlight film of our best dealings, but instead on all that Christ has done. Their closing argument could be made by Lauren Daigle in "You Say," "You have every failure, God. You have every victory."
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