My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
– Jeremiah 4:19
This verse gives us such a glimpse into Jeremiah’s heart as he hears God’s word about judgment that is coming upon his people. He doesn’t hear that word from God with a coldness in his heart or a distance from the realities that God’s word is talking about.
Jeremiah 4:19 reminds us about God’s imminent judgment on those without Jesus.
God’s about to bring judgment upon his people and Jeremiah is overwhelmed with anguish. My anguish, my anguish. I writhe in pain. Listen to this language, oh, the walls of my heart. My heart is beating wildly. Why? Because he knows judgment is coming and so he says, I cannot keep silent… For I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. I cannot keep silent. I must speak. When you read a few verses before this, Jeremiah 4:16 says, warn the nations that he is coming.
The picture is God is coming in judgment. We read these verses. Now, think about our lives. We know what God’s Word says about sin in this world… About coming judgment upon the nations, among all people who don’t turn from their sin and trust in Jesus. We hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. We know what’s coming. Every single person, we will see today, we know what is coming for every one of them who doesn’t know Jesus.
If they continue on not knowing Jesus, we know that eternal everlasting judgment, and suffering in hell are coming. May this reality reach deep into our hearts and cause our hearts to beat wildly and cause our mouths to speak, cause us to say, I cannot keep silent. I must speak about the coming judgment and salvation in Jesus.
Jeremiah 4:19 challenges us to embrace the urgency of sharing the gospel.
Oh God, we pray today for fresh urgency with the gospel in each of our lives. God help us to not hear or know your Word and be distant from it and it’s realities that it tells us about the world.
About people around us, family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors, billions of people among the nations have not even heard the gospel. God help us. Cause our hearts to beat like your heart does. God give us hearts that beat wildly for people around us who right now are under your judgment and need your salvation. For people we know, for people we’ll meet today or this week, and for people around the world. God we pray, make our heart like your heart.
Make our hearts like your heart, Jesus, and help us to speak. God, we pray that you would help us to speak the gospel today with fresh urgency. To somebody, to people around us today. God, we pray for opportunities to share the gospel today. We pray for boldness to share the gospel. God, we pray that you would use us today. Use us to lead people to salvation in you. Knowing people around us are not guaranteed to be here tomorrow, that they may meet you today, that you might come back today.
Prayer for the Palembang People
Lord Jesus, help us, we pray, to share the gospel with urgency. God, we pray for an urgency for world evangelism among your people today. For the spread of this gospel among all the nations to warn the nations that you are coming. God, we pray for the Palembang people of Indonesia, three and a half million of them, hardly any of them having knowledge of your love in Jesus. God, we pray for the Palembang and thousands of other people, and groups like them. Please, God, help us to share the gospel with them, with urgency.
We pray for the spread of the gospel among them. We pray that you use our resources in our lives toward that end. God, help us to warn the nations that you are coming in judgment and tell them the good news that you are merciful in Jesus. You’ve made a way for the salvation of all the nations, including people that we will meet, interact with, spend time with, and talk with today. God help us to live with Jeremiah 4:19 kind of urgency in our hearts and with our mouths. We pray this in Jesus’ name, the name of the one whose heart for us drove him to the cross to deliver us from the judgment we deserve. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
