Lamentation
Lamentations is a short book, five chapters, and it is a sorrowful book, I won’t lie to you. Lamentation by definition is an expression of great sorrow, but with great sorrow you can rest assured that joy comes in the morning.
“The five chapters of Lamentations are five beautiful and solemn elegies, or songs of mourning,
expressing the anguish of the Jewish people at the utter ruin of their beloved city Jerusalem,
it’s Temple, and its population, under the conquering Babylonians in 586 B.C.”
So with that basic understanding to what is going on, let’s dive in. The book of lamentations is believed to have been written by the prophet Jeremiah. He witnessed great sadness in the land at the destruction of Jerusalem and experienced exile from his beloved city. He shares in the sorrow of Zion, the Mount on which the Temple was built, and literally “feels” God’s anger over Israel. (chapters 1 and 2)
“(2:1a) How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger!
(2:2) The Lord has swallowed up; He has not spared all the inhabitants of Jacob…..
He has brought them down to the ground;
(3:1) In fierce anger He has cut off all the strength of Israel;
He has drawn back His right hand from before the enemy.”
THAT SENDS CHILLS DOWN MY SPINE! “He has drawn back His right hand from before the enemy” YIKES! As a Christian, I know when the Lord is protecting me, and I would suspect you know what I mean, because you just know it too. Things are “perfect” or as perfect as perfect can be here on earth. So go back to your childhood with me for a second, did you ever bring a baby animal or insect home to your mom? How were you holding it? I used to bring baby birds that had fallen out of their nest to my mom and I always presented them to her in my cupped hands, the only way I knew how to protect them until I could get them home for her to take care of.
Now picture this with me, God’s powerful hands, cupped together, protecting you, shielding you from the harmful, spiritual elements surrounding you. So for Him to draw His right hand from before the enemy, His left hand is still there, but His right hand has been removed. That means the enemy has an entrance. Whenever I sense confusion and chaos in my day, things keep going wrong, I keep bumping into things, or dropping things (true stories) that is my clue that the enemy has been given an in and I need to stop what I am doing, or trying to do, and refocus on the Savior of my soul and ask Him to give me back His loving protection. Thank you Lord for that!
So chapters three through five still express Jeremiah’s affliction that he shares with Israel, he feels like God has turned His back or face away from them, he prays a prayer for mercy, but he knows his God well enough to have hope of relief in God’s mercy. There is a light at the end of this tunnel.
“(3:20-26) Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me.
This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.
The Lord’s lovingkindness indeed never ceases, For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I have hope in Him.
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.
It is good that he wait silently for the Salvation of the Lord.”
Have you ever felt that way? So distressed over circumstances at the moment, weighed down by hardships, feeling like there is no relief any time soon? Unfortunately that is part of life, God never promised us a rose garden when we surrendered to Him, but the good news, no GREAT news is that His mercies are new every morning. How fantastic is that?!? Speaking from experience, I do believe confession of sin is the key to those morning mercies. When I don’t confess sin, I get bogged down, it piles up on top of me, spiritually speaking. Because the Lord can’t sin and actually hates sin, I feel disconnected from Him due to my sin.
I mean even Jesus, His Son, felt that separation from the Father when the sin of the world was upon Him on that cross, He cried, “Father, why has Thou forsaken Me?” Jesus felt separated from His Father for that brief moment. I feel the same when I have not confessed sin and the clue is that things in my day just are not going right which triggers the image that the Lord has turned His face from me. Have you had that feeling? Have you experienced anything similar? WELL FEAR NOT! No matter how grim and desolate things seem or become, remember, God’s mercies are new every morning!
These last verses I am going to share are so comforting. Jeremiah should have written them at the end of Lamentations, not in the middle of chapter three. That’s just my opinion. They are full of promise and hope and truly show the loving character of God.
“(3:31-33, 38) For the Lord will not reject forever, for if He causes grief,
then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness.
For He does not afflict willingly, or grieve the sons of men.
(38) Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth?”
If you are in turmoil, He may be allowing it to get your attention. Turn back to Him and let His powerful hands cup you in.
God is in control and His mercies are new every morning.
