Jeremiah's Timid Strength
Illustration★★★★Jeremiah’s character and his tory is shrinking timidity. His first words are, “Ah! Lord God, behold I cannot speak, for I am a child!” The storm of inspiration had seized on a sensitive plant or quivering aspen, instead of an oak or a pine.
And yet this very weakness serves at length to attest the power and truth of the afflatus. Jeremiah with a less pronounced personality than his brethren, supplies a better image of an instrument in God’s hand, of one moved, tuned, taught from behind and above. Strong in supernal strength, the child is made a “ fenced city, an iron pillar, and a brazen wall.” ‘Traces, indeed, of his original feebleness and reluctance to undertake stern duties are found scattered throughout his prophecy.
But he is reassured by remembering that the Lord is with him as a “mighty terrible One.” His chief power, beside pathos, is impassioned exhortation, His prophecy is one long exhortation. He is urgent, vehement, to agony.
— Guifillan
The point
Reflects on how the naturally timid and reluctant prophet Jeremiah was transformed by God into 'a fenced city, an iron pillar, and a brazen wall,' showing that God's strength is displayed through weak, sensitive instruments rather than naturally bold personalities.