A Fire Shut Up In My Bones

                                                                               (Jeremiah 20)

                                                                          By Donald Williams

O Lord, you have enticed me,

and I was enticed;

you have overpowered me,

and you have prevailed.

I have become a laughingstock all day long;

everyone mocks me.

For whenever I speak, I must cry out,

I must shout, "Violence and destruction!"

For the word of the Lord has become for me

a reproach and derision all day long.

If I say, "I will not mention him,

or speak any more in his name,"

then within me there is something like a burning fire

shut up in my bones;

I am weary with holding it in,

and I cannot.

     Have you ever wondered how humankind discovered fire? One night I had a dream. I dreamt of the two brothers in Greek Mythology, Prometheus and Epimeteus, sons of Titans who fought against the supreme god Zeus on Mount Olympus. They were punished and sent to the earth to dwell among humankind. Prometheus noticed the humankind was miserable, unlike the previous times of happiness on earth. He wanted to give humankind the gift of fire-with which to cook and warm themselves. So he proposed the idea to Zeus, who rejected it completely. However, Prometheus was determined, so He secretly stole a flame from one of Zeus' thunderbolts, lit a slow burring reed and returned to earth with fire. When Zeus discovers this, he chained Prometheus to the side of a mountain for eternity.

     When I woke from my dream, I sensed there was a fire shut up in my bones. I turned on the TV and saw that the righteous were being oppressed, the vulnerable were losing health care insurance. I saw that people were being profiled because of their religion. Foreigners and refugees were being turned away from our borders. I saw black bodies lying dead in the streets, killed by nervous police-and I sensed a fire shut up in my bones. I saw that Lady Liberty was being crushed by the powerful and that the land was being led by the foolish-knowing that the reign of the foolish brings calamity to a nation. So I went to the doctor and told her about the fire. The doctor couldn't help me with the fire. She said I needed to talk with the prophetess. So I climbed up a mountain to see a prophetess of Yahweh, who spoke the words of God. I told her about the fire in my bones that burns by night and by day. She told it it was an unquenchable fire- an eternal fire hat has been burning since time eternal- A fire wrought in the mind of the Almighty God. It could not be quenched! She told me to embrace the fire and in embracing it, I would not be consumed.

     So I returned to my city and I embraced the fire. I embraced the unquenchable fire of the Holy Spirit and like the burning bush in the Book of Exodus I was not consumed. I remembered the words of the prophet Jeremiah:

                                    "then within me there is something like a burning fire

                                    shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in,

                                    and I cannot".

So I decried the the injustice that surrounded me, I embraced the poor and needy and welcomed the foreigner. It is a fire of justice, mercy, and freedom! It is a fire of equal opportunity for all, deliverance for the opposed, liberation for the poor and the voiceless.

Oh there's a fire in my bones!

It is a fire of deliverance from tyranny and prejudice.

Oh there is a fire in my bones!

It is a fire that rejects political isolationism clothed the guise of nationalism. It is a fire that rejects the false news of the alt right and demands truth in journalism. Oh may it burn like the fires of the Holy spirit, burning away the dross, the impurities of sin in this world that we may be a holy people, a holy nation. I cried out in the city square like Lady Wisdom "the begentnig of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Listen to me and gain wisdom! I cried out like wisdom, how long oh simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?

     Sometimes I think about the phrophet Jeremiah, how he felt betrayed by God:

                                   "O Lord, you have enticed me,

                                    and I was enticed;

                                    you have overpowered me,

                                    and you have prevailed.

                                    I have become a laughingstock all day long;

                                    everyone mocks me."

Serving God didn't bring this Southern prophet book deals, literary awards and other accolades. It brought him just the opposite.

     Jeremiah was regarded as an enemy of the state. He was given a word of warning for the nation of Judah that caused him to be despised among the people. Yet the Lord's word burned in his bones. However, because of persecution he was tempted to be silent. Like the seed in the parable of the sower, persecutions almost made the word unfruitful. How are we when we face persecution and criticism for being Christians? Do we silence the truth to avoid shame and criticism? Do we reject all we were taught as children in Sunday School in church about the living God? Do we seek the favor and approval of men rather than the approval of the Lord? Or do we boldly stand for truth, even when it cost us? Perhaps this is what Jesus meant by when he said "If any man is to follow me he must pick up his own cross and follow after me". Jesus warns us  that sometimes the path of righteousness will not be easy. Sometimes we will be laughing stocks in this post-Enlightenment society that worships reason and science. How dare we believe in a Creator whose existence cannot easily be proven see through philosophical argument? Jeremiah lived to see his prophesies about Judah's destruction fulfilled.He was carried off into exile in Babylon with many prisoners. Yet even then, God did not abandon or reject his people.

     But sometimes I wonder?

What if I am arrested, scourged and put in the stocks for the Word of god- will the fire still burn? What if I am mocked and declared a false prophet like Jeremiah, for the sake of the gospel, will the fire drill burn? What, if I fail to inspire people to turn back to God, to walk in His way and his truth? Will the fire still burn? What if I am beaten, almost to the point of death for the gospel, like our beautiful Lord before he was hung on a cross for our sins? Will the fire still burn?

     During Hitler's rise to power during the Nazi regime, some German preachers stood up to the corrupting powers of hate, anti-semitism and imperialism. Some fell under suspicion for treason because they resisted Natzi pressure to align the Church with the philosophy of the Nazi regime. Like Jeremiah, there was a fire in their bones that compelled them to resist forces of evil that were seeking to dominate the world order with misguided visions Arian rule and glory.

     Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was among those who resisted the Nazi regime and its perverted ideology. Bonhoeffer ultimately died as a martyr for his faith in a Nazi concentration camp. Yet, I know another man, in whose bones are the eternal fires of truth. He is the Word, the Logos who through the incarnation came and dwelt among humankind. Like Jeremiah, he was despised and rejected. Jesus, was a laughing stock to many of the people. Yet He is the only begotten son of the Father and by believing in him, we have eternal life.

     The other day I had lunch with a lovely resident of German decent. She told me about her life, professor, scholar, writer. She was a young lady during the rise of Nazism in Germany. She witnessed first hand the extreme nationalism, anti-semetism, white supremacy of the Nazi regime. She decribed the spirit of fear that engulfed the nation. Then she looked at me and said, "the political climate in America, Trumpism, feels like the rise of Naziism all over again. I am afraid for our nation."

     As I survey the state of our nation-all I know is:

There is a fire greater than the fire the Greeks say Prometheus brought to the earth. There is an unquenchable fire, an eternal fire that has been burning since time eternal, a fire wrought in the mind of the Living God. It is a fire of justice, mercy and truth. It burns in my bones and will not be quenched!



THINKING THEOLOGICALLY, STAFFORD, VA  (571) 334-4925
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