The Musical Stylings of Baruch

Imagine you are the scribe for Jeremiah, writing the words the Lord has given him regarding Israel and Judah. The scroll you are writing is full of warning, so that, maybe, your fellow countrymen will turn from their wickedness, and the Lord will forgive their sin. You, Baruch, are busily writing away, focused on the words Jeremiah is dictating, when it suddenly dawns on you what you have just written, "Baruch, the Lord has a message for you". Startled, you look up at Jeremiah, squinting and blinking your eyes, as you try to refocus from intently staring at the scroll, puzzled by this unexpected proclamation. "What message could the Lord possibly have for me", you wonder.  Jeremiah continues, "He says, you said, 'Woe is me. The Lord has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with groaning, I have no rest."

Oh Baruch, you're singing my song.
Why were you whining?
Did you have any idea the Lord was listening?

Well, my friend, the Lord has a question for you, Jeremiah adds.
"Do you seek great things for yourself, Baruch?"
Do you seek great things for yourself?
Gulp. "umm, maybe?"
Your life, Baruch, is a gift that I have given to you, though just barely, for you will live, as a prisoner of war is  spared his life. You will not receive glory in return for your service, just gratitude for the grace that saves your life, gratitude to the One that "snatches you from the fire like a burning stick".

Curiously, we read this account in chapter 45 of Jeremiah, even though the actual dictating is recorded in chapter 36. The story tells us that, after reading the scroll in public, Baruch had to go into hiding with Jeremiah for fear of his life. Eventually, the king burned the whole scroll in the fire, and the Lord commanded Jeremiah and Baruch to do it all over again. It was probably during this second writing that the Lord confronts Baruch about his attitude. I say this because I think the timing would explain his tale of woe.

Was he suffering because his expectations were not met? Had he expected to receive fame for being such an important scribe, a promotion, maybe? Was he disillusioned by being persecuted instead?

What if the Lord confronted us this way every time we moaned and groaned about circumstances? Would He ask you the same question, "do you expect great things for yourself?"
What if His question was something like this, "why do you sit there and complain, were you expecting something different?" You would probably have to answer "yes", because we all tend to  have expectations that are not met, to expect more than what we get, to expect something else.
Does our disillusionment and disappointment from unmet expectations feel like suffering?
Yep, it feels like the end of the world sometimes, like agony, like the "depths of despair", as Anne Shirley would say. It makes us stare so intently at ourselves, that, when we do finally look up, our vision is blurred.

The tune of my suffering has some very bitter notes like whining, pouting, anger, and self-pity.
Something is off key. These words, this tone, are a long way from the joy and rejoicing that Paul, Peter and Jesus say suffering should bring. Have I made a wrong turn somewhere?
Recalculating.

Isn't it a good thing that God brings suffering into my life to help me make the right turns, to help me along to that death, to help me feel the cross on my back?
Good thing, huh? Right. Are you shaking or nodding that head?

Well, I know this. When I do reach for that cross, three quarters of what I think of as suffering evaporates. What's left is a beautiful "countercultural" suffering, the kind of suffering that has joy attached. The evaporating kind, when I die to self, is the suffering that comes from unmet expectations, from seeking fair treatment, from misconceived justice and misplaced belief in "karma", that good deserves good in return.

The dissonance is telling me something.
It's telling me that my flesh needs to die.