Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. — Jeremiah 20:9
Behind everything that we do, there is something that drives us. For example, those who want to buy a nice car are driven by their desire and work hard to obtain the means to purchase it. Others may want to achieve career success, and they put in the extra work hours to achieve their goals.
No matter what we do in life, there is something that drives us. We can be driven to good or bad, depending on what the driving force is. If we let our sinful nature control us, we will no doubt find ourselves driven toward sin and wickedness.
In this verse in Jeremiah, Jeremiah explains that he had said he wanted to just walk away from doing the right things. He wanted to give up, never to say another word about God, the things of God, or to do anything God would want him to do. What he found though was what he described as a fire shut up in his bones. In other words, there was a driving force in his heart that would not let him quit.
As Christians, we are in a unique situation where we have a desire to do the things of God, but we also deal with the desires of this world. If we feed worldly desires, we will never accomplish the things God would have us to. If we feed the spiritual fire, we may never achieve worldly success and fame. The real question becomes what is most important to you? Are you more interested in the things of the world or God? Do you have a fire within to do the things of God?
