A Hope and A Future
When Sir Ernest Shackleton set out to find a crew for what turned out to be his ill-fated voyage to Antarctica in 1915, he placed an ad in the Times of London which read: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success. Ernest Shackleton.” Amazingly, more than 5,000 men applied.
When God wanted someone to tell His people Judah that unless they turned from their idolatry and their wickedness God would bring judgement on them as He had done with the ten tribes of Israel to the North, he turned to a 20yr old priest from Anathoth in land of Benjamin:
4 The Lord gave me this message: 5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:4–5 (NLT)
Shackleton’s ad in the Times of London read: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful.
It would be more than a hazardous journey for Jeremiah that would take more than 40 years. The prophet was often left out in the cold – rejected by his own people.
He would be overcome with tears at the darkness of the nation.
His message put him in constant danger.
And he would end his days in exile in Egypt…