Baruch

Do you know who he is? He was the faithful scribe for the prophet Jeremiah AND the subject of my Bible reading today.

Seems to me that scribes don't get a lot of credit. I mean everyone's heard of the weeping prophet Jeremiah, but Baruch has to take the back seat. In Jeremiah 36 God told Jeremiah to record his words as a warning to the people. So Jeremiah grabs Baruch who grabs his pen and gets to work.

"Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do." Jer 36:8
He was a faithful messenger.

When it was all finished Baruch had to go into the temple to read it to the people b/c Jeremiah had been restricted.

It didn't go so well. He was forced into hiding as the king cut his freshly penned scroll into pieces and threw it in the fire. Bad day.

But God wasn't finished and true to His merciful nature, He didn't give up. He told Jeremiah to do it again. Not only that, but more words as well.

"Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them." Jer 36:32 What a job!

We skip ahead to chapter 45 and it seems that by now Baruch has had enough.
"Woe to me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest."

I love God's answer.
"This is what the Lord says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted throughout the land. Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life." Jer 45:4-5

And while this may seem a bit harsh at first, I actually found it quite encouraging. It was as if God was saying..."Cool off, I'm still in control. Trust ME and stop feeling sorry for yourself."

A good message for the day!