When Truth Hurts

In the preceding verses of this chapter, GOD has described the severity of His judgment which He is going to pour out upon the rebellious people of Judah.

Jer 15:8 Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the

  mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon

  the city.

Jer 15:9 She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it

  was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword

  before their enemies, saith the LORD.

GOD says that this judgment is going to be so severe that widows would become more numerous than the sand of the seas, as the Babylonians slaughtered the men. A mother with seven sons to protect her would not be safe from this judgment & will pine away at the loss of her children. Even the initial survivors would die by the sword. This was the message the Lord gave Jeremiah to preach.

As Jeremiah considers the seriousness of Judah’s sin, the coming judgment, & the message of judgment that he had to give, the prophet begins to despair. He goes so far as to say that he wished he had never been born.