Jeremiah's Grief - Jeremiah 8: 18 - 9: 1
(Bible quotes are from the New English Bible, unless otherwise noted)

V 18.
How can I bear my sorrow?
I am sick at heart.

NIV.  O my Comforter in sorrow,
my heart is faint within me.
NLT.  My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken.

Jeremiah pours out his grief at the plight of his nation.  I wonder if he may also be expressing God's own grief at having to punish his people.  While God has the right to punish, a God who is pure love can not enjoy it.  He is also a holy God and a God of justice and his love must sometimes be expressed as 'tough love', but that doesn't make it easier.  Those of us who have had to be hard on our children or family members or friends at times for their own welfare know how difficult it is and how sad we feel at having to do it.  How much more does God feel it?

V 19.
Hark, the cry of my people
from a distant land:
'Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King no longer there?'
Why do they provoke me with their images
and foreign gods?

NLT.  Listen to the weeping of my people; it can be heard all across the land.
"Has the LORD abandoned Jerusalem?" the people ask. "Is her King no longer there?"
"Oh why have they angered me with their carved idols and worthless gods?" asks the LORD

The people cried out and wondered if God had abandoned them, as we so often do when things go wrong.  "Where is God?  Why did he let this happen?" is a common response to trouble.  Others assert, "There's no God" or 'God can't be a loving God if he lets things like this happen."  The people of Judah were no different.

God's reply, via Jeremiah, was to ask why his people continually disregarded him and turned to other gods.  Why do we expect God to keep us out of trouble when we ignore him most of the time?

V 20.
Harvest is past, summer is over,
and we are not saved.

New Bible Commentary p 681.  The people believed that they had an unconditional guarantee from God.  This belief explains their words here.
p. 680.  A large part of the problemn is the false trust which the mere possession of the temple and its rituals inspires.  Borrowing from Caananite ideas, the people had persuaded themselves that this amounted to a kind of guarantee of God's presence and protection.

It is a mistake to believe that, just because we belong to a particular church, go to worship every Sunday (or Saturday, if that is when the church worships), live respectable and law-abiding lives, we are OK with God and we can go ahead and do what we please, as long as we don't hurt anyone,  because God is backing us.

We cannot earn salvation.  We cannot meet God's high standards for living. We cannot be reconciled with God unless we believe in Jesus Christ and allow him to be the most important part of our lives.  It is only then that God allows us to be reconciled with him - and we are 'saved' (from the everlasting consequences of our wrong-doing).

V 21.
I am wounded at the sight of my people's wound;
I go like a mourner, overcome with horror.

NIV.  Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;
I mourn and horror grips me.
NLT.  I weep for the hurt of my people.  I am stunned and silent and mute with grief.

Jeremiah was horrified at the plight of the people of Judah and, once again, I'm guessing he was echoing God's feelings.
The truth is that God never abandons us.  When he has to punish us, or allow the consequences of our actions to happen, it hurts him more than it hurts us.  He hurts when we hurt.

V 22
Is there no balm in Gilead,
no physician there?
Why has no skin grown over their wound?

NIV.  Why is there no healing for the wound of my people?

New Bible Commentary p. 681.  Gilead (east of the Jordan) was well known for its aromatic plants, used for medicinal cures.  But a more profound healing was needed for this affliction.

The only 'healing' the people needed - and it's probably the most needed 'healing today' -  is obedience to the will of God.  The people of Israel and Judah had been told over and over again what they should be doing, but they ignored the messengers.  We can come close to God through faith in Jesus Christ, so we can then learn to understand his will for us.  Then we must be diligent in following it.  We have an example - a model - in Jesus who walked this earth as a human being.  We can't excuse ourselves by saying we didn't know what God wanted of us.

V1.
Would that my head were all water,
my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I may weep day and night
for my people's dead!

Jeremiah's (and God's) hurting is so deep and so great that he just doesn't have enough tears to express his grief.  How can we blithely continue on our own selfish way if we realise how much God is hurting because of just that?