August 17, 2025 Text: Jeremiah 23:16-29
Dear Friends in Christ,
The Word of the Lord can be tough business. Few people in our world have known this better than Jeremiah. He tried to get out of this work by using his youth with the Lord. It didn’t work. The Lord even told him that people wouldn’t listen to him. Do you want that work?
It didn’t matter, the Lord wanted him. He called him into service. He used these words in the King James version of the Bible. “Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee.” (Jer. 1:17) The Pastors of our circuit know this is the verse that yours truly always uses at a Pastoral ordination or installation. The ESV translates it, “dress yourself for work.” I like that as well. At our house we say this it this way, “Put on your big boy pants,” “put on your big girl pants.” What does that mean? These sayings all point to the same thing, getting ready for a demanding task or challenge.
That is where we find Jeremiah this morning. He needs to speak God’s Word to a people who don’t want to hear it. He needs to “put on his big boy pants” or more appropriately . . .
“GIRD UP THY LOINS”
Jeremiah had competition. There were others who were proclaiming a different message, one that was far more appealing than the message the Lord gave Jeremiah to say. Like Pastor’s and evangelists of all times, many challenges were also happening in the world around him. The final days of Judah, Babylonians taking over, a faithful king killed and a new king who didn’t care for Jeremiah’s message. Jeremiah would be the target of persecution.
The market was dictating the message. We all know how this works. Your computer feeds will feed you topics of interest to you. If you buy something, they will shower you with more like items. You follow a sports team, and they are sure to hit you up for tickets or apparel. The market in Jeremiah’s time were false prophets who filled the people with vain hopes. They “speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.” They even told the people, “no disaster shall come upon you.”
Nice, right? But not biblical. No one can tell you and me that nothing bad will happen to us. That is a misunderstanding of living in this world. It does not consider the words of the Lord in the Bible. It misses the boat on who God, or Yahweh is. Yahweh is not some local deity unaware of the lives of His people. Yahweh is at hand and relates personally to his people.
No one wants to hear about the possible destruction of their home or city. No one wants to hear that you need to repent and return to the Lord with broken and contrite hearts. It is a much easier sell to tell people that everything is going to be fine. It is a sell that is still going on today.
Jeremiah was in a tough business. That is why the Lord told him to “gird up thy loins.” This was not a challenge confined to his time. The walls were broken down long ago. The temptation has always been to give people what they want, rather than what they need. This has plagued God’s people and God’s prophets in all ages. We know we have something to say in this world, so why not give them what they want to hear?
If we do that, we reduce God to a deity made in our image. So many think of God as far away. God says in verse 23, “Am I a God at hand…and not a God afar off?” The Lord is near to us and has promised to be with us always.
Jeremiah knew God was near. He went into the fight with loins girded. He put on the big boy pants and shared the message. He said the Lord would rise up a Righteous branch, who would be a king and deal wisely. This righteous branch would be the ultimate prophet, the Word of God in human flesh. Like Jeremiah, he stood in the council of the Lord to see and hear his Word. He proclaimed the word faithfully. Like Jeremiah, he was opposed. He would not preach what the people wanted to hear, He preached what they needed to hear. He would contend with false prophets. There would be a storm that would reach a fever pitch on a Friday. Jesus would gird up thy loins and in obedience would take his life to the cross. He hung in our place. The rocks were broken in pieces. His gift of salvation is ours. We hear the message we need to hear. Though still sinful, Christ died and rose for us.
Are you ready to gird up thy loins and share this message? It can be a tough business. We have stood in the council of the Lord. We have seen and heard His Word, and that is the message we faithfully proclaim. It is a message not driven by the market, but driven by the Holy Spirit. Hear the words I love to share, “Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee.”
Amen.