the weeping prophet, Jeremiah

My reading today was Aug 31 and it ended with Jer 51:46b "The words of Jeremiah end here." That made my heart sad :(...

Jeremiah was a prophet from 627-586 BC, that's 41 years. What constituted those years?

• He prophesied during the reign of the last 5 kings of Judah (Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah).
• He began delivering God's message to Judah during Josiah's reign... it was well received, Josiah lead the people to repentance and obedience.

Things declined after that.

• During the reign of the next 4 kings, he was thrown into prison, then a cistern, he was rejected by his neighbors, his family, and his friends... he was alone.
• His personal sufferings aside, his heart was grieved as he witnessed Judah's increasing depravity and moral decline.
• He wept as he witnessed many of God's people exiled, many others killed, and those left were suffering and dying.

And the last of his years was the worst.

• God told the remnant, through Jeremiah, if they remained in Israel, He would deliver them from the Babylonians, and He would restore and heal them.
  
• But again, they did not obey. Instead, they went to Egypt! They went back to the very land God had freed them from! Jeremiah was forced to go with them and before he died, he saw them bowing down to the Egyptian gods.

Jeremiah died with a broken heart, and that made my heart sad :(

And yet, Jeremiah's days were full of faith and obedience to God. What was his motivation? He didn't have the Holy Spirit in him to give him power and strength? He didn't have the promise of heaven like we do? He didn't have Jesus' example of suffering and sacrifice to follow? He couldn't tell himself that his suffering was nothing compared to what Jesus suffered? Wow, sad but... AMAZING.