Sometimes when following God gets hard, it becomes easy to complain.
“Why is this happening to me? I don’t understand. I thought that if I followed you, all would go well. Why are you allowing this to happen?”
And that’s how Jeremiah felt. Once again, he felt the sting of rejection and persecution from his own people.
As a result, he started to face doubts about what he was doing for God, saying,
Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable?
Will you be to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails? (Jeremiah 15:18)
In other words, “I’m suffering here. Can’t you see? Are you truly going to help me? Or will you let me down like so many others have in the past?”
But once again, God doesn’t allow Jeremiah to wallow in his own self-pity. Rather, he challenges him, saying,
Therefore this is what the Lord says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.
I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you,” declares the Lord.
“I will save you from the hands of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel.” (Jeremiah 15:19-21)
Put simply, “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Walk away from your pity party so that I can use you. Stop your complaining, and instead speak the words I give you.
“These people around you would have you become like them, but you must not. Instead, you must make them bend to you.
“They may fight against you and persecute you, but they will not overcome you. I will rescue you.
“So take your eyes off of yourself, and put them on me where they belong.”
How about you? Do you wallow about in self-pity when things get hard because you’re serving God?
Satan loves that, because it makes you utterly useless to God. Satan wants you to focus on yourself, because when you do, it’s impossible to focus on God or the people around you.
Let us not be people that focus on ourselves and our own troubles.
Rather, as the writer of Hebrews says,
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2-3)
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 
3 replies on “Spiritual pitfalls: The trap of self-pity”
Not only what Jeremiah was facing himself, but we must realize as he expressed in Lamentations how much he cared about his own people also. It was not easy to speak hard words against them all the time. Then God in one place forbade him from even praying for these people. Quite a burden was on the young man Jeremiah, but God when He makes a decree, He doesn’t change it for our loyalties or sympathies.
That’s what the majority of the religious world now is caught up in. Changing God’s word to be more lenient and easier for the people to swallow, but God is not a man that He should repent. When He makes a declaration, that’s what it is and as He told Jeremiah, you can’t be my spokesman if you change my word at all.
Looking around for a Biblical perspective on self-pity, this was an excellent resource and not just a re-hashing of other people’s thoughts. Good work.
Thank you for your kind words. I’m glad you were blessed.