Jeremiah’s Peaceful, Shrinking Disposition

Jeremiah was naturally timid, and he longed for a place of quiet seclusion where he would not need to witness the continued rebellion of his beloved nation. His heart was broken with anguish over the ruin that sin had brought. “Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears,” he mourned, “that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers; that I might leave my people, and go from them!” Jeremiah 9:1, 2.RR 149.3

The arrows of scorn hurled at him pierced his sensitive soul. “I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.” “‘Let us denounce him!’ All my close friends are watching for me to stumble. ‘Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him.’” Jeremiah 20:7, 10, NRSV.RR 149.4

But the faithful prophet was strengthened daily. “The Lord is with me as a mighty, awesome One,” he declared in faith. “Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail. They will be greatly ashamed.” Jeremiah 20:11. He learned to pray, “O Lord, correct me, but with justice; not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.” Jeremiah 10:24.RR 149.5

When tempted in his misery to say, “My strength and my hope have perished from the Lord” (Lamentations 3:18), Jeremiah recalled the workings of God in his behalf and exclaimed: “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I hope in Him!’ The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:22-26.RR 149.6