seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Lamentation 5:1 Remember, Lord, what has happened to us;
look, and see our disgrace.
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become fatherless,
our mothers are widows.
4 We must buy the water we drink;
our wood can be had only at a price.
5 Those who pursue us are at our heels;
we are weary and find no rest.
6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria
to get enough bread.
7 Our ancestors sinned and are no more,
and we bear their punishment.
8 Slaves rule over us,
and there is no one to free us from their hands.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives
because of the sword in the desert.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven,
feverish from hunger.
11 Women have been violated in Zion,
and virgins in the towns of Judah.
12 Princes have been hung up by their hands;
elders are shown no respect.
13 Young men toil at the millstones;
boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The elders are gone from the city gate;
the young men have stopped their music.
15 Joy is gone from our hearts;
our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this our hearts are faint,
because of these things our eyes grow dim
18 for Mount Zion, which lies desolate,
with jackals prowling over it.
19 You, Lord, reign forever;
your throne endures from generation to generation.
20 Why do you always forget us?
Why do you forsake us so long?
21 Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return;
renew our days as of old
22 unless you have utterly rejected us
and are angry with us beyond measure.
This morning I am thinking of that little child.... left at daycare.... sitting beside the door crying for mommy to come back and get her. That scene in no way captures the true sorrow in Lamentations. When I first used that image.... it made me cry.... but now I realize the people of Judah and Jerusalem were in a far worse.... a far darker place. This is Jeremiah's plea...... his prayer.....The commentary this morning is from Bible-studys.org.
God’s people have often called on Him to “remember” them in times of distress (Gen. 8:1; 19:29; Exodus 32:13). In this prayerful chapter are four lessons for overcoming sin, depression and defeat: Remembering, repentance, recognition and renewal.
These verses depict a situation where the captives were at the mercy of low-level Babylonian officials placed in authority over them. Food was scarce and the people had to wander about trying to find enough to stay alive. A dangerous venture (“with [the peril of] our lives”), when others are desperate to get what they need.
Israel had suffered famine, rape, torture, disgrace and slavery, and now they had no king . Disparaged, they were at a loss to see how David’s throne could endure according to the Lord’s promise (2 Sam. 7:12, 16, 19). Although devastation dims vision, even the worst of circumstances cannot eclipse this truth: God’s “throne” is everlasting (Psalm 45:6).
After lamenting their apparent abandonment by God, His people pled to Him for restoration, recognizing that God rightly brought judgment because of the nation’s sin. The last words barely seem to hold onto hope, but this is a reflection of the people’s iniquity rather than a question of God’s faithfulness to His covenant.
This plea was not made with anger. The humble closing prayer sought God, who can never reject His people forever, to be faithful in restoring them. In fact, their godly sorrow over sin was the beginning of that restoration, which would be completed by turning to God in faith and obedience.
God does not need to be reminded of the fact that He had rejected them. That is what this is saying. It is as if the person speaking is trying to remind God of His covenant relationship with Israel. His anger was justified, but He will forgive and start them again. Behind every dark cloud, the sun is shining.
Some of the commentaries I normally read.... don't deal with Lamentations at all. It's an extremely sad book. I can't even get angry over the treatment the babies had to deal with..... I'm just devastated. I keep imagining some of the images I've seen on the Al Jazeera threads on facebook.... buildings destroyed..... starving people.... bones where plump bellies use to be..... rumors of rape and murder..... horror after horror..... and these people back in the day of Jeremiah wouldn't have had hearts growing callous to mass horror. These images would not have been a flicker on a monitor from thousands of miles away... harmless..... for them it was reality. Horror was reality...... they were ready.... God would not leave them in this position much longer.....I can just hear them calling out..... "Here I am Lord.... rescue me"
Zion and Edom..... all punished.... some were relatively innocent.... they got swept up in all the horror.
Some might say this all started with a bowl of stew..... brewed by a hairy man who really didn't want to be king..... some would say the younger twin just wanted to do what God had planned..... the mother who gave up her child...... she only saw horror......
Without God.... there is horror..... humans are just horrible when God is left out of the equation..... after all humans would have to be.... to take on all the natural predators, lions, tigers and bears..... but most of all.... humans would have to be just as horrible...to deal with all the other horrible humans.... without God.
This is from Bibletrack.org.
Jeremiah concludes in verses 19-22 by pleading before God, "We did get what we deserved, but won't you restore us to the way it was back in the good ol' days?" Hey! When leadership is bad, everyone suffers - women, children...everyone. Notice the last verse of Lamentations, verse 22, "But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us." There was no question in Jeremiah's mind: God had brought about Jerusalem's destruction because these Jews had rejected God.
That little girl beside the door.... her parents will wipe away her tears. I've seen it. Have hope.... God is a Father.
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