Am I like Jeremiah?

Today's reading came from Jeremiah.

In that passage I found these verses that struck me.

15O LORD, you know;
remember me and visit me,
and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance take me not away;
know that for your sake I bear reproach.
16Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
O LORD, God of hosts.
17I did not sit in the company of revelers,
nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone, because your hand was upon me,
for you had filled me with indignation.
18Why is my pain unceasing,
my wound incurable,
refusing to be healed?
Will you be to me like a deceitful brook,
like waters that fail?

19Therefore thus says the LORD:
"If you return, I will restore you,
and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
you shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you,
but you shall not turn to them.
20And I will make you to this people
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you,
but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you
to save you and deliver you,
declares the LORD.
21I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless."

I wanted to understand them better so I looked them up in some commentaries.

Matthew Henry writes

It is matter of comfort that we have a God, to whose knowledge of all things we may appeal. Jeremiah pleads with God for mercy and relief against his enemies, persecutors, and slanderers. It will be a comfort to God's ministers, when men despise them, if they have the testimony of their own consciences. But he complains, that he found little pleasure in his work. Some good people lose much of the pleasantness of religion by the fretfulness and uneasiness of their natural temper, which they indulge. The Lord called the prophet to cease from his distrust, and to return to his work. If he attended thereto, he might be assured the Lord would deliver him from his enemies. Those who are with God, and faithful to him, he will deliver from trouble or carry through it. Many things appear frightful, which do not at all hurt a real believer in Christ.

Wesley writes:

15. Thou knowest - My sincerity, or my sufferings. Visit me - With thy love.

16. Thy words - The words which from time to time thou didst reveal to me, were by me greedily digested. I am called - I became a prophet by thy authority, therefore, do thou own and defend me.

17. I sat not - God had all along filled his mouth with such dreadful messages, that his whole prophetical life had been to him a time of mourning and solitude, a time when he sat alone, mourning and weeping in secret for the wrath of God revealed to him against his people.

18. Why - Jeremiah, though a great prophet, was (as Elijah) a man subject to like passions with other men.

19. If thou - These are God's words to the prophet, rebuking his distrust in God, and promising him, that if he did return from his distrust in God's providence, he would restore him to the former favour he had with him, and he should be his prophet to reveal his mind to the people; and that if he would separate the precious truths of God from the vile conceits of men, then God would continue him as his prophet, to speak in his name to the people. But - He charges the prophet to keep his ground, and not to go over to wicked men.

21. The wicked - The wicked Jews. The terrible - And the power of the terrible Chaldeans.

I just find it interesting, how different people look at the same verses, and how they do it. Some do a verse by verse, others more of a broad sweep. And something can be learned from both. The reason I was drawn to these verses is that they surrounded this verse:

16Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
O LORD, God of hosts.

I had to think to myself. Are God's words a joy to me? Do I eat them as eagerly as I would a ham and cheese sandwich? Do I find them as filling as supper? Do God's words delight my heart? Am I glad that I am called by God? And am I glad that he (God) is my Lord of hosts?

I find that like Jeremiah there are times when I am beseiged by distrust. I don't trust that God will take care of me, that he will bring me relief from the various things that trouble me. And like Jeremiah, God calls me out of that. He reminds me that he will take care of me, that his words are a joy and delight to me, and that I am his very own child.