6神信靠耶利米到极点。耶利米对神非常忠信，但神与耶利米有一些差别，有一些不同。我们可以说，他们之间甚至有一些摩擦。在耶利米对神惩罚以色列的反应上，我们看见这差别。神对以色列发怒、生气，并进来告诉耶利米：祂要审判这百姓到极点。耶利米听见耶和华对以色列所施这行政对付的细节，就开始有点不赞同神。他认为神的惩罚太过了。为这缘故，在耶利米十五章十节，耶利米被迫说，『我的母亲哪，我有祸了，因你生我作为遍地相争相竞的人。』这指明他对神要他说的豫言感到不高兴。因此，耶利米发觉自己进退两难。一面，耶和华催促耶利米豫言以色列的毁灭，但他觉得以色列的苦难太大了。另一面，百姓仍是邪恶的，他们甚至逼迫耶利米。这使耶利米进退两难。至终，神施行了祂的审判。祂毁灭耶路撒冷，烧毁圣殿，将君王放逐，并蹂躏整个国家。耶利米看见这一切事发生在他眼前。这一切事－毁灭、蹂躏、玷污、掳掠、和颓败－清楚留在这忧伤且满了同情之申言者的记忆里。因著神的主宰，耶利米免于被掳。历史告诉我们，耶利米坐在俯瞰耶路撒冷的小山上，看著下面的废墟。他开始哭泣，禁不住记下他的感觉。他的五首哀歌写得非常细致，（前四首哀歌是照著希伯来文字母的顺序，）表达了他对神的圣民、圣地、圣城、圣殿、和圣器皿的忧伤、痛苦和同情。我们由耶利米书知道，耶利米这个善良、忠信的申言者受到逼迫。他被逼迫到一个地步，祷告说，『让我看见你在他们身上报仇。』（耶十一20，二十12。）这与新约的教训相反，新约的教训告诉我们，要爱我们的仇敌，为那逼迫我们的祷告。（太五44。）因此，无论耶利米多么善良、忠信，他还是人。当他在耶路撒冷的小山上行走时，越看见毁灭的情形，就越流泪、越哀哭。然后他写了他的哀歌。
6God trusted in Jeremiah to the uttermost. Jeremiah was very faithful to God, but between God and Jeremiah there was some discrepancy, some difference. We may say that there was even some friction between them. We see this discrepancy in Jeremiah’s reaction to God’s punishment of Israel. God was indignant and angry with Israel and came into tell Jeremiah that He would judge this people to the uttermost. When Jeremiah heard the details concerning Jehovah’s governmental dealing with Israel, he began to disagree somewhat with God. He thought that God was going too far in His punishment. For this reason, in Jeremiah 15:10 Jeremiah was forced to say, “Woe is me, my mother, because you bore me, / A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole land.” This indicates that he was not happy about the prophecy that God wanted him to speak. Thus, Jeremiah found himself in a dilemma. On the one hand, Jehovah pressed Jeremiah to prophesy concerning Israel’s destruction, and Jeremiah felt that the suffering of Israel was too great. On the other hand, the people remained evil, and they even began to persecute Jeremiah. This put Jeremiah into a dilemma. Eventually, God carried out His judgment. He destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple, sent the king into exile, and devastated the entire country. Jeremiah saw all these things take place before his eyes. All these things — the destruction, devastation, contamination, capture, and ruin — remained clearly in the memory of this sorrowful and sympathetic prophet. By God’s sovereignty, Jeremiah was free from captivity. History tells us that Jeremiah sat on a hill overlooking Jerusalem, viewing all the ruins below. He began to weep, and he could not avoid writing down his feelings. His five lamentations, written in a very fine way (with the first four lamentations following the sequence of the Hebrew alphabet), were the expression of his feeling of sorrow, pain, and sympathy concerning God’s holy people, holy land, holy city, holy temple, and holy vessels. We know from the book of Jeremiah that Jeremiah, a good and faithful prophet, was persecuted. He was persecuted to such an extent that he prayed, “Let me see Your vengeance on them” (Jer. 11:20; 20:12). This is contrary to the New Testament teaching, which tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matt. 5:44). Thus, regardless of how good and faithful Jeremiah was, he was still human. As he walked in the hills above Jerusalem, the more he looked at the destruction, the more the tears came and the more he lamented. Then he wrote his lamentations.