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"I am pained in my very heart"

Text: Jeremiah 4:19

A DEEPLY PERSONAL RESPONSE

Sometimes prophets are described as preachers of gloom and doom. They are further portrayed as people who are self-righteous and they do not care about others. These things cannot be said about Jeremiah!

“O my soul, my soul!
I am pained in my very heart!
My heart makes a noise in me;
I cannot hold my peace,
Because you have heard, O my soul,
The sound of the trumpet,
The alarm of war.”
Jeremiah 4:19

1. “O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart!”

a) The soul

i) It represents the inner spiritual being.

ii) It represents depth.

iii) Jeremiah felt a sense of sorrow and pain that the eye cannot detect easily.

b) The heart

i) The soul and the heart are often described together.

ii) This was done on purpose.

iii) The heart is sometimes called “the seat of emotions”.

iv) When the soul and the heart are placed side by side, (as in this context) the pain of the heart expressed comes from the soul.

v) The heart expresses what the soul feels in greater depth.

2. “My heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace”

a) The heart in turn is given a voice through the mouth.

b) The heart cannot but “make a noise”.

c) Jeremiah cannot but speak.

i) From a heart that has felt deep anguish.

ii) From a soul that is inextricably connected to the heart.

3. “Because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.”

a) The soul is now described as having the ability to hear.

b) The ear is the organ that actually hears.

c) But soon the sound the ear hears fades away after a while.

d) When the ear has ceased in literal hearing, the soul continues to hear.

i) The sound of the trumpet was not producing merry music.

ii) These were trumpets that were blown to sound the alarm of war.

iii) Enemies used them to instil fear in the heart of those they were fighting.

e) And the soul can hear long after the trumpets of war have ceased being blown.