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Jeremiah 14:17 "You shall say to them this word: 'Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people is smitten with a great wound, with a very grievous blow.'"

 

While I am sure Jeremiah’s eyes were running with tears for the state the people had come to, when Jeremiah speaks these words, they will not be his own. God gave Jeremiah these words so that the people would know how sorrowful God is about the way they are acting and what they are bringing on themselves.

 

We are created in God's image, so our emotions are a reflection of part of God, one He relies on often to communicate with us and allow us to better understand Him. God is definitely "other", we are not and cannot ever be equal with Him in any way, and we cannot understand Him fully, being only His creatures. But God made us in His image, and He wants a relationship with us, His creatures who are also His images. Our emotions are one of the ways we can relate to God. Things that make us joyful, hurt, righteously angry, or sad, are things that make God "feel" the same way, if we are properly ordered (which admittedly can be a big if). Our rightfully ordered emotions let us experience God, and help us navigate the world.

 

Here, God is upset at how far Judah has fallen, and at the tremendous chastisements that will come to them because of it. They have given themselves a great wound; healing it will be very painful, but absolutely necessary if they are going to live. Jeremiah knows this, and he is heartbroken at it, but the words Jeremiah is to speak are not his own, they are God's. So God wants His people to know that He “feels” something like the heartbreak that Jeremiah feels.

 

I don't think "feels" is necessarily a right word for God, but it is the one that we have and can understand. "Feel" is what we do, what He created us to do in His image, to help us understand Him (and ourselves), and to be able to be in relationship with Him.