Jeremiah 20

Jeremiah 20:4, “For thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it…”

In this chapter, Jeremiah was put into the stocks, by a man named Pashur, for speaking the word of the Lord (and the Word was destruction). The Lord is coming to Jeremiah’s defense here because of Jeremiah’s obedience.

My first thought while reading this was, “oh no, those poor friends, they didn’t do anything wrong.” And then it occurred to me: it matters who our friends are. Are we friends with people who would imprison a prophet of the Lord? If so, we might be guilty by association. Also, the way we act may have consequences for our friends, and we need to be aware of that.

Finally, when Jesus walked the earth, and even today, He befriends sinners- people like Pashur- those who don’t know the Lord or have walked away from Him. I used to use this as an excuse to behave like a sinner. I would go to parties and all that, in the name of Jesus. But here’s the thing, people change when they meet Jesus and they aren’t sinners anymore. When Jesus walked the earth, his disciples dropped everything from their previous lives to follow Him. When we accept Jesus into our hearts as our Lord and Savior, we literally change the path we are on, change our behaviors, and start walking with the Lord. So, it’s one thing to befriend someone who is not walking with Jesus and bring them to Jesus to be changed, and a whole other thing to befriend and act like a sinner “in the name of Jesus.” Because as we see here in Jeremiah, the Lord will punish our friends for our behavior and the Lord will punish us for our friends’ behavior.

Heavenly Father, today I pray You open my eyes and reveal to me people that I may need to let go of in my life. Or people that I need to bring to You. Or maybe people that are following You whom I should befriend. As we see in Jeremiah, our friends are important and I pray you reveal to me areas that need change in my relational life. I thank You so much that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and that He changes us once we invite Him into our hearts. Please bless this day and bless all my friends. In Jesus name, amen.