“Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee. But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.” Jeremiah 7:27-28

To me those words would be very discouraging. To know before you speak that no one will listen would be so discouraging. I would not want to do it, why bother, it would just be a waste of my time. But Jeremiah did what God had asked. He went, he told them of their wrong doings, he told them what would happen if they did not come back to God, and yet they would not listen. For fifty years Jeremiah was pleading with the people of Judah, for fifty years he was telling them to stop trying to worship idols and God at the same time, for fifty years he was trying to open their eyes, to help them see what they were doing wrong. As God had told Jeremiah, they did not listen and they were taken into captivity. Jeremiah had not given up on the people, God had not given up, the people of Judah gave up on God and they had to pay for their actions.

We all get discouraged from time to time. Things can get too hard, too frustrating, too much for us to handle. We tend to throw our hands in the air and say – I give up! Did Jeremiah give up? I’m sure throughout the course of fifty years, he thought about it, when he was in put in the stocks (Jeremiah 20:2), when God’s law was cut into pieces and thrown in the fire (Jeremiah 36:22-23), when he was in the dungeon (Jeremiah 37:15-16) . He did not stop! He kept doing what God had asked, he kept trying to help save the people.

God sent Jesus to this earth to work- “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” John 9:4 Well, one might ask what was His work? – ” For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10 And since we are to follow Jesus (Mark 8:34), we must work at that job too!

At times this job can get down right discouraging. You are inviting your friends, they say no. You try to talk to your family, they won’t listen. You see all of these lost people and it seems like no one is listening, no one cares. Why should we work so hard when even Jesus said few will find the way? (Matthew 7:13-14) How easy it would be for us to just give up and say “Lord, we have found a few, that’s good enough.”? But what about 2 Peter 3:9 – “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God wants ALL men to be saved, but we ALL have the ability to choose, as did the people of Judah. Some will choose God, others won’t, but we must keep trying to teach them about God’s wonderful plan of salvation. Keep inviting, keep talking, keep praying and don’t ever give up. Who knows, maybe one day they will surprise you with a yes!

By: Kristina Odom