It was so simple for the people – follow God – follow God’s model: mercy, grace, loyalty, kindness. But no. When corrected, they became violent. They turned away from Jeremiah (Jeremiah 20:10-13), as they turned away from others in the many similar stories.
It isn’t easy to do, as in the words of the Psalm (69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35), to bear shame for the sake of God. Yet that is what Jeremiah and other prophets often did. We may be insulted and shamed when we speak God’s love language, too. It isn’t easy.