God gave the prophet Jeremiah a mission of proclaiming the truth to Israel in order to bring them back to God. But when Jeremiah gave God’s message to Israel, he was rejected, ill-treated, and abused. During the longevity of Jeremiah’s suffering, he lost hope, and moved into despair and a distrust of God’s faithfulness to fulfill His promise to bless the prophet. Sometimes, like Jeremiah, we feel trapped by our circumstances, with no way out.  These negative feelings attach to our thoughts and create self- defeating beliefs in our lives. Beliefs that say; life is too hard- I’m afraid it won’t get better-I can’t do this anymore-this is all too much-it feels like God doesn’t care and has left me to struggle alone. But the truth is the Lord cares for us, and will always hear our cries! God told Jeremiah that his attitude was taking him in the wrong direction, away from the good things God had ultimately planned for his life. He told Jeremiah he must turn away from pessimism, cynicism, and negativity and return to God’s truth, where he would find a place of settled quiet and safety. Then Jeremiah listened to God, and turned away from the dark, slippery hole he was falling into and turned toward the light of the God who loved him and wanted to help him find and fulfill the purpose for his life. If you find yourself feeling trapped in this type of misery, God understands your human struggles and wants you to know the Truth about His unconditional love….you don’t need to distrust Him. He has promised to help, support, see you through, never leave you and work all things together for your good! So let’s ask God for help, while we pour out our negative feelings and thoughts on Jesus and let go of our mistaken tone of distrust and despair. Then, His Spirit can again fill us, and give our hearts’ a settled place of quiet and safety.

“Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you indeed be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail and are uncertain? Therefore thus says the Lord[to Jeremiah]: ‘If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister'”(Jeremiah 15:18-19a).