17:14-16
“Heal me ...” There is no indication that Jeremiah was suffering from a physical illness, it would seem that, especially given the second part of the verse, that he was thinking of a more general salvation. The false prophets, and those who listened to them, were taunting Jeremiah, asking where is the fulfillment of the word of the Lord. In this section Jeremiah is again pouring out his heart to the Lord. Jeremiah has faithfully proclaimed the word of the Lord. So in verse 14 he declared that he had faith. In verse 15 he related the situation he was encountering, ie no one believing him, and in verse 16 he reminds God that he has not failed to fulfill the task.
17:17,18
He now calls on God not to be a “terror” to him. He is saying “don’t let me down God”. Instead he calls on God to not let him be put to shame, i.e. for God to vindicate him; for him to be kept from terror. Conversely, he calls for his enemies to be put to shame, to be subject to terror, and to experience a day of disaster. Our reaction might be that we should not pray like this! However, the Bible is far less squeamish about what our normal human reactions are, it is far more real than often are. And there is a mixture of faith and human emotion in what Jeremiah has been saying in the last 5 verse.
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