Frowned upon lately?

Our senior pastor preached on Jeremiah 45 today (hear the sermon), which relates an account about Baruch, the scribe who recorded that prophet's mostly gloomy messages. He had become discouraged about the way things had fallen out in his lifetime, and he despaired of the future.

In a well-known passage, the Lord spoke to Baruch personally to give him some needed perspective : "And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not ..." (v. 5)

I thought the commentary of Matthew Henry (1662–1714) on this passage was poignant (typically):

Baruch was employed in writing Jeremiah's prophecies, and reading them, and was threatened for it by the king. Young beginners in religion are apt to be discouraged with little difficulties, which they commonly meet with at first in the service of God. These complaints and fears came from his corruptions. Baruch had raised his expectations too high in this world, and that made the distress and trouble he was in harder to be borne. The frowns of the world would not disquiet us, if we did not foolishly flatter ourselves with the hopes of its smiles, and court and covet them. What a folly is it then to seek great things for ourselves here, where every thing is little, and nothing certain! The Lord knows the real cause of our fretfulness and despondency better than we do, and we should beg of him to examine our hearts, and to repress every wrong desire in us.