Jeremiah (1-31) 20:12 Commentary and Bible Study

‘But, O LORD of hosts, that triest’ – for ‘that triest’ read ‘that proves’. The testings of the Lord are provings to make us more faithful and more pure. It is a proving and a purifying process. To us it is a trial; to God it is a proving. ‘But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart’ – you see the feelings of the person and the thoughts of the person, the insincerity or the sincerity within them. ‘Let me see thy vengeance [retribution] on them, for unto thee have I opened my cause.’ Is that a right thing for Jeremiah to wish? I think we can be in too much of a hurry to say, ‘Tut, tut. We mustn't imitate Jeremiah there. The standards for us are to love our enemies.’ That is true, but is Jeremiah so wrong? If his heart is all for the glory of the Lord and the salvation of souls, and he sees the enemies of truth prevailing, capturing the hearts of the masses, silencing the prophets, is it not really that he is saying, ‘Let me see the glory and the victory of truth and of the Lord’? Can we not read that into what he says? ‘Let me see thy retribution upon them, and the vindication of God's mercy and truth in the salvation of the remnant’? That would be a wholesome desire. Let me see the silencing of some of these militant atheists. We cannot fault that desire. ‘For unto thee have I opened my cause.’ That is the more important part for us. You go before the Lord in your distress, whatever is the cause, and you open your cause or your case or your situation, and you lay it before him. And when you have done that, you rest, and that resting is an act of trust. He seems to be saying, Lord, you know my motives and what I have done. ‘Let me see thy vengeance on them, for unto thee have I opened my cause.’ Set them back, these evil persecutors that want to do away with the message of God and his prophet.‘Sing unto the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.’ It's as good as done. Jeremiah is still oppressed; he is still in trouble; he will be for a time yet. It will get much worse if we place this chapter in a kind of chronological position in the book. But nevertheless his deliverance is as good as accomplished. He will go into a much more comfortable captivity than his oppressors, and he will return at length to Jerusalem. ‘For he hath delivered the soul of the poor’ – that is his own soul and the souls of others like him – ‘from the hand of evildoers.’ It hasn't happened yet, but ‘Sing unto the Lord’; it is as good as done; it is as good as accomplished, because I have laid my case before the Lord. He seems to rise up once again in great comfort and assurance. Even in the midst of his complaints, he bursts out at this point, and there is no question that the word of God is true even while he is complaining. He has been given a message which is true; he certain of that. He is on the right side; he is certain of that. So there is a tremendous conviction about the correctness and the certain inspiration that he has had to receive this message.