Old Testament - Lamentations 1 & 3 - October 21, 2022

10/21/2022 – Lamentations 1 & 3

The book of Lamentations is written by Jeremiah. The Israelites refused to follow the commandments of the Lord, and now Jeremiah records—and laments—that they ARE now living in the desolate state of Jerusalem, that has now been basically destroyed by the Babylonians.  Jeremiah, as the prophet of the Lord, acknowledges that Jerusalem was destroyed because the people ignored the commandments of the Lord. Jeremiah writes in poetry recording his people’s grief, shock and suffering.

Chapter 1: “How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies. Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits. Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper: for the Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions….” (v’s 1-3, 5)

V 9 has one of the saddest statements of Jeremiah: “she had no comforter”. And v 11: “her people sigh, they seek bread”. And v 12: “…see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.” V 16: “For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.”

Chapter 3: Jeremiah continues with his sad and tragic descriptions that came to them because of they pulled themselves away from the Lord with their continued desires to follow the wickedness of those around them. I read his sad descriptions in v’s 9-12 and feel his great sorrow for himself and his people: “He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.”

His people had certainly damaged their relationship with God, and they now feel deep despair. But in v’s 20 -23 Jeremiah changes the course of his thoughts: “My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to. My mind, therefore I have hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” 

Jeremiah now continues to look toward the Lord, who will help them if they only turn back to Him. In v’s 25-26 he reminds his people that there must be patience in their faith: “The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.”

In v’s 31-33 he reminds them of the need for us to endure to the end: For the Lord will not cast off for ever: But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.”

Then in v’s 40,-41 Jeremiah begins his pep talk and tells them how to take their first steps back to Him: “Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.”

And then he ends with the verse that reminds us that having the Lord on our side is a two-way road: “Render unto them a recompence, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.”

I don’t believe that the Lord likes to punish us, but sometimes it is the only way He can get our full attention. The Israelites had fallen far from Him. He gave them warning after warning through Jeremiah. When they refused to listen to those warnings, the Lord did not give up on them. He did the only thing that might finally turn them back to Him and, in time, that worked.


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