a raging fire.

Jeremiah has just been mocked, flogged, and imprisoned. He no longer desires to proclaim the message of impending judgement that God has given him to speak. He is tired and no doubt in SEVERE pain from his recent flogging. Yet this is the conclusion that Jeremiah eventually comes to:

"I thought, 'I will not mention Him,
No more will I speak in His Name' -

But His Word was like a raging fire in my heart,
shut up in my bones;

I could not hold it in,
I was helpless."

(jeremiah 20).

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oh Lord, may it rage in our hearts as well.