Jeremiah’s known in the Bible as “the weeping prophet” and yet he was so great of a prophet that when Jesus Christ asked His disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?”, Jeremiah was one of the answers.

That’s how closely associated he was in the mind of Israel with the coming of their Messiah.

Jordan says, “Jeremiah talked about how ‘my tears flowed as rivers’ and the reason for that was he saw his nation in a state of apostasy. Even the great revivals under Hezekiah weren’t enough to turn the people back to God and (thereby) keep God’s wrath off of them.

“After sending Jeremiah to warn Israel, God finally said, ‘Don’t even pray for ’em; just tell them judgment’s coming because of their sin. No mercy. They’ve crossed the line.’

“So Jeremiah went out and delivered God’s word to the people, and naturally they didn’t care for it, and he’s justified in his weeping over his nation because of his deep concern for their open rebellion against God. Jeremiah’s even put in prison a number of times for his preaching.”

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In the slew of despond, Jeremiah says, “Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.” (Jer. 15:10)

Jordan explains, “He’s saying, ‘Woe is me, everybody’s against me,’ and then he sinks into self-pity. He says, ‘I don’t deserve this! I didn’t do wrong; I didn’t do evil. Look at what they’re doing to me! And I’m hurt.’

“And he begins to nurse that self-pity. In verse 17, he says, ‘I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.’

“He says, ‘I’m not with the people mocking God’s word,’ and he begins to have that sense of loneliness. In the next verse, he says, ‘Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?’

“He begins to feel his helplessness and the hopelessness ‘which refuseth to be healed.’ You just see him sinking down into the slew: ‘Wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar?’

“In other words, ‘God, are you just going to turn your back on me too and forsake me? You made promises—are you going to be a liar too?’ This guy gets down in the depths of depression.

“But the Lord seems to understand when His people lapse into self-pity, particularly when it comes from the pressures of life because of the heavy burdens upon them, and that’s what’s happened to Jeremiah.”

The response from God, as revealed by the chapter’s remaining verses, is, “Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.
[20] And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
[21] And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.”

Jordan explains, “God’s saying, ‘Jerry, just sit down; I’m gonna take care of you.’ Now that’s a great promise from God. You see, God doesn’t come in to chastise him for his depression.

“He doesn’t come in and give him all kinds of lectures on what he should and shouldn’t have done. He just says, ‘Jeremiah, just relax, buddy, I understand. You’re way down there at the extremity of your abilities, so just relax. I’ll take care of it.’

“Verse 16 is a verse we often teach people to memorize because that’s where Jeremiah finds his hope and his answer. Jeremiah writes, ‘Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.’

“What he’s saying is, ‘I turned from my viewpoint and began to listen to what God had to say in His word. I ate thy words. I consumed them. I dwelt on them and they became the joy and rejoicing of my heart. I began to, in all things, give thanks. Why? For I am called by thy name or LORD God of hosts; because of who you’ve made me.’ ”

“You see, what Jeremiah does is he focuses again his thinking process back on who God has made him—on God’s word to him—and everything changes, and the joy and rejoicing of his heart returns.”