The people of Judah thought that Jeremiah was an incorrigible pessimist, and therefore they locked him up in the courtyard of the guard. He merely conveyed a message that depressed people, that was demoralizing!
Of course this was not true at all, but people who rebel against the message of God will always find something they think they can criticize, and in this way they justify their refusal to listen.
Those who are willing to submit to the message of judgment - and dare to admit that the judgment is righteous - will get to know God as the God of genuine love. But those who do not want to submit and who expect God to always be nice – like a super sweet Santa Claus – will end up disappointed. When all human insights turn out to fail and no hope is left, such people find the heavens to be closed, and their own imagined god turns out to be non-existent, to be dead.
Jeremiah was in distress. He had spoken the word of God to people who did not want to bow under the righteous judgment of God. They only wanted to hear positive and encouraging words. Jeremiah did receive encouraging words from God, but the people who did not want to submit, never heard them, because these words of overwhelming comfort were only to be found with Jeremiah in prison: ‘Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know’ (:3).
Whenever we feel trapped in the web of our own thoughts and we call out to God, we will find that He longs to heal us and to enthrall us with His great and unsearchable thoughts.