My wife Janie and our collie-lab named Ben. He is in a happy mood.
When our family were growing up in our home in High Road, Stevenston we had a cross-breed dog called Ben. He was a collie-lab and he was an intelligent dog. I could easily get side-tracked by telling you how smart he was. But he was also demonstrative (which means that he clearly displayed his emotions). When I was taking him out for a walk, we used to meet friends from our church and they were Ben’s favourites. When Ben got sight of either Robert Gibson or Hunter Stewart, he got so excited that he ran straight towards them his pal with his tail wagging so hard that his whole body was swaying. The same dog hated travelling by car and he wailed and lamented in loud protest whenever he was forced to travel with us.
What had our old dog in common with Jeremiah? This prophet was not afraid to show his emotions. He did not have much opportunity to show his happiness but he had plenty of occasions to vent his displeasure and deep sadness. In fact, there is an English word 'jeremiad' which describes a lament. Jeremiah was similar to the writers of the Psalms who expressed their bitter feelings to God in Laments [See Day Share entitled Laments to God (Psalms) 21/05/2020]
Here are some of Jeremiah's laments or 'jeremiads.' I am being selective and I am not considering them in the order that they are recorded in Jeremiah's prophecy. In this first lament, the prophet is deeply distressed at the bleak future which was facing his own people.
Oh, my anguish, my anguish!
I writhe in pain.
Oh, the agony of my heart!
My heart pounds within me,
I cannot keep silent.
For I have heard the sound of the trumpet;
I have heard the battle cry. [Jeremiah 4:19 NIV]
There is no disguising Jeremiah's love for his fellow countrymen. The repeated expressions of 'my anguish' followed by two references to his heart - the seat of his affections and deep emotions. He is heart-broken - 'the agony of my heart.' He vividly describes a heart that is beating furiously and irregularly. He is unable to keep silent.
In another section Jeremiah, the so-so-called 'weeping prophet' uses poetic language to refer to his grief.
Oh, that my head were a spring of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night
for the slain of my people [Jeremiah 9:1 NIV]
This is so vivid that it requires little comment or analysis. At this stage, the Babylonians have still to attack. As he is writing or dictating these verses, there are no corpses following the Babylonian attack and the siege of Jerusalem - that lies in the future. But the prophet is certain that God's judgement will come to pass. However, the next verse displays some conflicting emotions - as well as being sorrowful for what lies ahead of them, he is only too well aware of their sinful condition and he longs to have nothing to do with them.
Oh, that I had in the desert
a lodging place for travellers,
so that I might leave my people
and go away from them;
for they are all adulterers,
a crowd of unfaithful people. [Jeremiah 9:2 NIV]
Notice that he provides an honest assessment of their sinful condition - he describes them as 'adulterers' who are unfaithful to God.
In the next lament Jeremiah is even angry with God and unfairly accuses God of deceiving the people of Judah and lulling them into a false state of security. In his rational brain, Jeremiah knew that God had repeatedly warned the people of Judah to repent and had clearly indicated the serious consequences of continued disobedience. His emotions are affecting his judgement.
Then I said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! How completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ when the sword is at our throats!” At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse; a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them.” [Jeremiah 4:10-12 NIV]
He is still prepared to pronounce God's judgements on his people - even though he has just claimed that God has deceived them and has given them a false sense of security (you will have peace) and now they are facing horrendous bloodshed (the sword is at our throats). The 'scorching wind from the barren heights' refers to the devastation that the Babylonian attack will bring. He is not seeing this in a positive light - he does not see any benefits from the attack - it will not be like a wind that allows farmers to remove the chaff from the grain. It will be completely destructive.
Chapter 20 of Jeremiah's prophecy provides the most detailed lament from the lips of the prophet. He speaks of the personal abuse he has suffered by being identified as a prophet of God who is pronouncing judgement on his people. He speaks about being 'ridiculed all day long' and suffering 'insult and reproach all day long.' He cannot keep silent, however and ignore God's message despite the reaction from his hearers. God's word in his heart is like a fire in his heart or his bones. He ends with a bitter lament that he would have preferred not to have been born.
Cursed be the day I was born!
May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!
Cursed be the man who brought my father the news,
who made him very glad, saying,
“A child is born to you—a son!”
May that man be like the towns
the Lord overthrew without pity.
May he hear wailing in the morning,
a battle cry at noon.
For he did not kill me in the womb,
with my mother as my grave,
her womb enlarged forever.
Why did I ever come out of the womb
to see trouble and sorrow
and to end my days in shame? [Jeremiah 20: 14-18 NIV]
Maybe we have not expressed ourselves as vocally and emotionally as poor Jeremiah but have you ever felt so downhearted that you wonder what is the point of it all. I love the honesty and integrity of Jeremiah. In our culture, there is so much dishonesty and window dressing [See Day Share entitled, Open and Above Board 28/09/2021]. Jeremiah is the exact opposite. I often think that we are not honest with each other and we are not honest with God. He wants us to tell him what we are really thinking in our hearts. By the way, he already knows exactly the true state of our hearts and yet we dishonour him by pretending that everything is all right.
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