Job’s story teaches us about endurance under undeserved suffering, but Jeremiah’s life shows us what obedience looks like when the outcome seems certain to be failure. Constance describes Jeremiah’s mission with refreshing honesty: “Young in years, he had nothing of a promise of comfort, ease, or honor. On the contrary, the Lord assumed that Jeremiah’s life work would be bitter, hard work, thankless, repulsive, experiencing opposition, and the only consideration given to him for so much hardship and suffering was, ‘I am with you … to deliver you.’” That hardly sounds like an attractive job offer. In Jeremiah 1:17, God tells him, “But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them.” God was not sending Jeremiah to a comfortable pulpit but into a battlefield of disbelief. His first assignment was not to succeed but to stand.
Ryken explains that the phrase “dress yourself for work” literally means “gird up your loins.” Today we might say, “Roll up your sleeves” or “Put on your work boots.” Back then, a man would tuck his long robe into his belt so it would not trip him up when he moved quickly. Jeremiah was being told to prepare for action. Willis adds, “This is the language of war, of military preparation. Jeremiah is to expect a hostile audience.” The call to “gird up” is one every believer hears in one way or another. Life gives few guarantees of comfort, but God guarantees His presence. Courage is not the absence of fear; it is faith refusing to bow to fear. God promised Jeremiah that He would be with him to deliver him, not from trouble but through it. That is how faith works—it shows up when comfort leaves the room.
God warned Jeremiah that if he feared men, he would face something far more frightening—the displeasure of God Himself. That is a sobering reminder that we can either live in fear of people or in reverence for God, but not both. Jesus echoed this same truth: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). Christ Himself “set His face like flint” toward Jerusalem, fully knowing the suffering ahead, yet He went willingly (Isaiah 50:7; Luke 9:51). His courage became our salvation. When life calls us to stand firm, we can remember that Jesus already rolled up His sleeves, girded Himself for the cross, and fought the battle we could not win.