Jeremiah 4: You'd Weep, Too.

"'Your ways and your doings have brought this upon you.  This is your doom; how bitter it is!  It has reached your very heart.'  My anguish, my anguish!  I writhe in pain!  Oh, the walls of my heart!  My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent; for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war" (vs. 18-19).

Jeremiah is often regarded as "the weeping prophet."  It was his destiny to proclaim the judgment of the Lord upon Judah and the ensuing destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.  We may too easily gloss over the traumatic effect that this ministry would have had on Jeremiah.  How would any of us fare if our mission was to forecast the doom of our nation to a people unwilling to hear and repent?  How would you react if God told you to preach against your hometown and proclaim the end of your country?  It would be terrible.

Although chapter 4 begins with a ray of hope, that light is quickly extinguished.  In the opening verses, God holds out hope for His people's salvation as He calls them to return.  He pleads with the Israelites to go beyond physical circumcision and to circumcise their hearts toward Him.  "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, remove the foreskin of your hearts, O people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or else my wrath will go forth like fire, and burn with no one to quench it, because of the evil of your doings" (vs. 4).  

Unfortunately, the remainder of this chapter describes what happens when Judah does not do as the Lord commands.  The prophet receives images of an impending military attack, complete with trumpets and standards and armies from the north.  Jeremiah is haunted by what he sees.  "Disaster overtakes disaster, the whole land is laid waste.  Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my curtains in a moment.  How long must I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?" (vs. 20-21).  Like an unceasing nightmare, Jeremiah cannot wake up from the visions of destruction he sees coming upon his own nation and people.

Verses 23 through 28 reveal the scope of the judgment and the decision by God to not relent.  Four times Jeremiah tells us that he "looked" and saw the terrible results of the invasion.  If there is any hope to be found in this chapter, it is in verse 27, "For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end."  We know that history would go on for the Jews of Judah, but they must first undergo a horrific experience.