Did you know that grief can make you weary? Whether it’s the death of a loved one or a more mundane disappointment, psychologists have observed that it often produces a kind of physical exhaustion they call “grief fatigue.”

Jeremiah paints a picture of the aftermath of Jerusalem’s destruction, marked by desolation, sorrow, and exhaustion. The once-busy streets were now empty. He compares the once bustling city to “a widow” sitting alone (v. 1). Judah was reduced to the status of a slave, driven into exile with “no resting place” (v. 3). The prophet describes the raw emotional state of grief; Jerusalem weeps bitter tears, like someone betrayed by her former lovers (v. 2). When combined with the description of Jerusalem as a “widow” in verse one, this language hints at the past infidelity of God’s people.

This catastrophic change of fortune did not happen suddenly to Judah. Jeremiah says it came after “affliction and harsh labor,” when those who “pursued” her overtook her “in the midst of her distress” (v. 3). Jeremiah uses imagery of Israel’s earlier deliverance from Egyptian slavery but with the opposite result. It was like the Exodus happening in reverse. In Exodus 33:14, the Lord promised Moses: “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” But now that she had gone into exile, Judah would find “no resting place.”

What Judah experienced was far more than a national disaster. It was a spiritual disruption. For God’s people then, and for us today, sin ultimately produces affliction, hard labor, and alienation from God. By submitting to God, we reap salvation, a holiness that results in eternal life (Rom. 6:22). Jesus promises rest to all who accept His “easy” yoke (Matt. 11:28).

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