Thursday 20th August
Read Jeremiah 4:19-22
“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.
20 Disaster follows disaster;
the whole land lies in ruins.
In an instant my tents are destroyed,
my shelter in a moment.
21 How long must I see the battle standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 ‘My people are fools;
they do not know me.
They are senseless children;
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil;
they know not how to do good.’” (NIVUK)
The relationship between the prophet, the people and their God is poignantly captured here. There is pain in the recognition that the people simply do not know God (v22). The language of wisdom is used extensively, ‘fools, know, senseless, understanding, skilled’. If humanity is made in the image of God and endowed with wisdom then the people of Judah have betrayed that completely. It causes grief.
That grief is reflected intimately in the physical anguish of the prophet. Anguish is actually a polite translation, masking the brute physicality of the prophet’s pain. The cry is ‘my bowels’ – literally his guts are tied up in agony. Heart, mouth and limbs twisted up, contorted. There is a physicality in the language that is inescapable when paired with the lack of wisdom expressed at the end.
In a sense what Jeremiah is expressing physically, as his divine endowed wisdom allows him to see the coming judgment, is a reflection of God’s own heart towards His people. The prophet knows God, unlike the people, and the physical reflection of that knowledge is instructive for us today.
Are we as grieved at sin and foolishness? Does it pain us?
“Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?” (2 Corinthians 11:28-29) (NIVUK)
