Being one of God’s prophets was hard work.

It may sound easy—all you had to do was tell people how much God loves them.

That was definitely one of the messages the prophets gave, but the people needed to hear more than that. Many of the Israelites were good to go on God’s love. What they weren’t very good at was loving God back.

Time and time again, the Israelites decided to do things their own way. Actually, that’s only half right. Time and time again, the Israelites decided to do things everyone else’s way. They were supposed to be a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a people set apart. But instead of living like special people following God’s way, they wanted to be normal people doing things the world’s way. God raised up the prophets to rebuke his people, warn them of judgment, and call them to walk according to God’s commands.

Now that’s a hard job!

And no prophet had a harder job than Jeremiah. When Jeremiah was a young man, the Lord spoke to him. “I knew you even before you were a baby in your mom’s belly,” the Lord said. “I have appointed you to be my messenger.” When Jeremiah said he couldn’t do the job because he was too young, the Lord replied, “Do not be afraid. I will be with you and put my words in your mouth.”

Jeremiah would need the Lord to be with him, because the words he gave Jeremiah to speak were hard words. God showed Jeremiah a vision of a boiling pot from the north. It was a picture of the kingdoms of the north coming to attack Jerusalem. God was angry with the people of Judah. They had ignored his commands, worshiped other gods, and wandered from the good paths they used to walk in.

Sounds like an unpopular message. And it was! No one liked Jeremiah. They wanted him to announce good news. But sometimes the only way to get to the good news is to hear the bad news first. The Lord said, “Don’t be discouraged, Jeremiah. I will make you like a strong city, like an iron pillar, like bronze walls. The people will fight against you, but they will not win.”

Jeremiah is sometimes called the weeping prophet because he had to give such bad news and saw so many hard things. But he was also a faithful prophet. Like Jeremiah, we must always say and do what is right. God will be with us, even if everyone is against us.