Healing a Wounded Heart · Day 2
Jeremiah 17:14-18 — a devotion
Jeremiah 17
- 14여호와여 주는 나의 찬송이시오니 나를 고치소서 그리하시면 내가 낫겠나이다 나를 구원하소서 그리하시면 내가 구원을 얻으리이다Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed. Save me, and I will be saved; for you are my praise.
- 15그들이 내게 이르기를 여호와의 말씀이 어디 있느뇨 이제 임하게 할지어다 하나이다Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now.Behold, they ask me, “Where is the LORD’s word? Let it be fulfilled now.”
- 16나는 목자의 직분에서 물러가지 아니하고 주를 좇았사오며 재앙의 날도 내가 원치 아니하였음을 주께서 아시는 바라 내 입술에서 나온 것이 주의 목전에 있나이다As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee.As for me, I have not hurried from being a shepherd after you. I haven’t desired the woeful day. You know. That which came out of my lips was before your face.
- 17주는 내게 두려움이 되지 마옵소서 재앙의 날에 주는 나의 피난처시니이다Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.Don’t be a terror to me. You are my refuge in the day of evil.
- 18나를 박해하는 자로 수욕을 당케 하시고 나로 수욕을 당케 마옵소서 그들로 놀라게 하시고 나로 놀라게 마시옵소서 재앙의 날을 그들에게 임하게 하시며 배나 되는 멸망으로 그들을 멸하소서Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.Let them be disappointed who persecute me, but don’t let me be disappointed. Let them be dismayed, but don’t let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.
KJV and World English Bible — Public Domain · 개역한글 ⓒ Korean Bible Society
Background
Jeremiah 17 was written near the end of the southern kingdom of Judah, as the nation was rushing toward destruction. Jeremiah was a prophet who delivered God's message of judgment, but the people refused to listen — instead they mocked and persecuted him. Verses 14-18 are Jeremiah's personal prayer, in which the loneliness and deep pain that came with his prophetic calling pour out vividly. This passage is Jeremiah's fifth confession, part of the tradition of the prophet's lament prayers found throughout the book. The backdrop of the time was a paradoxical situation: while false prophets prophesied peace, the true prophet suffered for speaking the truth.
Reflection questions: 1. Have I ever spoken honestly to God about my pain, as Jeremiah did? 2. Look back on any times when I tried to handle my wounds entirely on my own. 3. What change could the confession that God alone is the true Healer bring to my life today?
Today's reflection
Jeremiah appeals directly to God: Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. This confession is not just a prayer — it flows from the conviction that the ultimate source of healing is God. At the time, Jeremiah was suffering deeply amid the mockery of false prophets and the indifference of the people. People sneered at him, asking where the word of the Lord was. Even so, he never let go of the truth that God alone is the true Healer.
Theologically, this passage carries the truth that human healing cannot be completed by our own effort alone. Jeremiah did not try to overcome his wounds by his own strength. Instead, he honestly laid his pain before God. Here, healing means not merely the recovery of the body but the restoration of the soul — the restoration of one's whole life. And the confession that if God heals, he will be healed is not a conditional statement; it is an expression of absolute trust that God alone is the one true Healer.
Simply put, when our hearts ache, we do not have to pretend we are fine. Coming honestly before God, as Jeremiah did, is itself the beginning of healing. If there is a burden on your heart right now that feels too heavy to carry alone, try laying it honestly before God. Jeremiah's confession — that when God heals, we are truly healed — applies to us just the same.
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