The way of imagination

       Everyone has their breaking point.   Everyone is vulnerable to psychological distress and the experience of doubt regarding the goodness of God and of life itself.   Jeremiah was indeed well acquainted with pain.   I believe that the “painful” tone of much of Jeremiah’s writing is that of a tired preacher, an exhausted messenger.   Think about it – Jeremiah warned his contemporaries (in vain) of coming disaster for 40 years, after which time Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed.   Not only was he called to deliver a message that no one wanted to hear, but Jeremiah also had to face hostile (and potentially deadly) opposition, even from those people closest to him.   As he experienced this solitary suffering, Jeremiah recorded 6 “lamentations” [1] , i.e., 6 cries of distress to Yahweh, both expressing his anguish and requesting that God defend him and avenge him on his enemies.   These cries resemble those psalms in which a ...

       Everyone has their breaking point.   Everyone is vulnerable to psychological distress and the experience of doubt regarding the goodness of God and of life itself.   Jeremiah was indeed well acquainted with pain.   I believe that the “painful” tone of much of Jeremiah’s writing is that of a tired preacher, an exhausted messenger.   Think about it – Jeremiah warned his contemporaries (in vain) of coming disaster for 40 years, after which time Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed.   Not only was he called to deliver a message that no one wanted to hear, but Jeremiah also had to face hostile (and potentially deadly) opposition, even from those people closest to him.   As he experienced this solitary suffering, Jeremiah recorded 6 “lamentations” [1] , i.e., 6 cries of distress to Yahweh, both expressing his anguish and requesting that God defend him and avenge him on his enemies.   These cries resemble those psalms in whi...

       Everyone has their breaking point.   Everyone is vulnerable to psychological distress and the experience of doubt regarding the goodness of God and of life itself.   Jeremiah was indeed well acquainted with pain.   I believe that the “painful” tone of much of Jeremiah’s writing is that of a tired preacher, an exhausted messenger.   Think about it – Jeremiah warned his contemporaries (in vain) of coming disaster for 40 years, after which time Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed.   Not only was he called to deliver a message that no one wanted to hear, but Jeremiah also had to face hostile (and potentially deadly) opposition, even from those people closest to him.   As he experienced this solitary suffering, Jeremiah recorded 6 “lamentations” [1] , i.e., 6 cries of distress to Yahweh, both expressing his anguish and requesting that God defend him and avenge him on his enemies.   These cries resemble those psalms in whi...

     Everyone has their breaking point.   Everyone is vulnerable to psychological distress and the experience of doubt regarding the goodness of God and of life itself.   Jeremiah was indeed well acquainted with pain.   His language sometimes resembles that of Job (cp. Jer. 20.13-14 with Job 3.1-7, 11-16).   I believe that the “painful” tone of much of Jeremiah’s writing is that of a tired preacher, an exhausted messenger.   Think about it – Jeremiah warned his contemporaries (in vain) of coming disaster for 40 years, after which time Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed.   Not only was he called to deliver a message that no one wanted to hear, but Jeremiah also had to face hostile (and potentially deadly) opposition, even from those people closest to him.   As he experienced this solitary suffering, Jeremiah recorded 6 “lamentations” [1] , i.e., 6 cries of distress to Yahweh, both expressing his anguish and requesting that God defend...