This passage relates to Jeremiah 36:1-32 when the word of the Lord directed Jeremiah to have Baruch write on a scroll. Then Baruch took the scroll to read to the people at the temple because Jeremiah was restricted to the courtyard. When the scroll got to King Jehoiakim, he burned it and put a warrant out for the arrest of Baruch. He was in hiding. Here, we get a glimpse into that hiding place and what was going through Baruch's mind.
He cried out Woe to me! Or, other translations have, 'woe is me'. Baruch was fearful and his plans were spoiled by the Lord's plans. He characterizes his life with Jeremiah and service to the Lord as one of sorrow, pain and exhaustion. Baruch was called along with Jeremiah to work out the Lord's plan; see 1:10; to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant. What greater plans could man dream of? Yet, we do. And Baruch apparently had 'great things' in mind. Maybe he wanted to be a scribe in the king's court instead of one for the prisoner Jeremiah. We don't know what it was and it doesn't matter. There is no greater plan than the plan the Lord has for us; there is no greater avenue of contentment or success than His way. As for man's way, He advises, 'Do not seek them.' In the Lord's care, Baruch would survive this.
©2019 Doug Ford
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