Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision spoke in my Youth for Christ Rally when I was a teenager. He made a statement I will never forget: “Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God!” In those days, Bob Pierce shared a broken heart for children orphaned by the Korean War.

In the years since, I have never forgotten his comment because I believe it is at the heart of what God desires for each of us: “a heart that hurts where and when the heart of God hurts.”

Jeremiah was God’s prophet of the broken heart. He begged, pleaded, prayed and prophesied to God’s people, Israel. As you read through the book of Jeremiah, you will read the fifteen prayers that Jeremiah prayed for Israel. Many of them were prayed through Jeremiah’s tears. He felt the sadness and rejection for a nation that seemed oblivious to what God wanted them to know and do.

Jeremiah and Jesus were a lot alike. No old testament figure is so prophetic of Jesus as Jeremiah. Both suffered rejection by their own. Both were threatened with death by the priests of Jerusalem. Both were led as lambs to a slaughter. Both were men of sorrow and acquainted with grief, yet found consolation in prayer. Both were mystified over the ways of God.

Jeremiah sounded a little like Moses when he said “Ah, Sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” (1:6) God responds to Jeremiah as he did with Moses by saying “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord.” (1:8)

In the midst of Israel’s struggle in captivity, God speaks through Jeremiah with words of a promise that many of us know and often quote today. “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (29:11)

You and I are a lot like Jeremiah’s audience. We hear God speak, we know his promises, yet we stumble along on our own through chaos and confusion when God says “I have your answer. Listen and believe!”

Jim Smoke