Jeremiah (1-31) 8:18 Commentary and Bible Study

Here is Jeremiah and you can see his agonising and his sorrow at all this that is happening to the people, and it is recorded because it reflects the very heart of God. ‘When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.’ Jeremiah is not a cold-hearted man who distances himself from the people he speaks to, and insulates himself from their pain. He is near to being overwhelmed with sorrow for them. This is not something which is put on for effect; it is not just some technique which he uses to catch their attention. Though he knows they have done evil, and they are fully to blame for what God is doing to them, he cannot help but pity them. He is not in any disagreement with God; he knows it is right that the nation is punished, but he weeps for them. This energises all his preaching, and they can see that he is deeply sincere in all he says. Here he tells his hears, as part of his message, how much grief he feels.Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country [the coming Chaldeans]: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her?’ I am here to help them if they would only turn to me, says the Lord. ‘Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?’ Again, God is represented as being reluctant to judge Judah, and as giving them far more opportunities than is reasonable to repent, but all to no avail. Can we not come to a God of such long suffering, who makes it so easy for us to approach him, and who goes to such great lengths to be patient with us?