How?

Lamentations 1:1–6 NKJV

1 How lonely sits the city That was full of people! How like a widow is she, Who was great among the nations! The princess among the provinces Has become a slave! 2 She weeps bitterly in the night, Her tears are on her cheeks; Among all her lovers She has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; They have become her enemies. 3 Judah has gone into captivity, Under affliction and hard servitude; She dwells among the nations, She finds no rest; All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits. 4 The roads to Zion mourn Because no one comes to the set feasts. All her gates are desolate; Her priests sigh, Her virgins are afflicted, And she is in bitterness. 5 Her adversaries have become the master, Her enemies prosper; For the Lord has afflicted her Because of the multitude of her transgressions. Her children have gone into captivity before the enemy. 6 And from the daughter of Zion All her splendor has departed. Her princes have become like deer That find no pasture, That flee without strength Before the pursuer.

How?

I remember learning beginning in high school about the 5 Ws and the 1 H when reading a story or when investigating something. When I was in the Air Force and was working on the project management team we utilized this concept. The 5 Ws and 1 H “are questions whose answers are considered basic in information gathering or problem solving. They are often mentioned in journalism (cf. news style), research, and police investigations. According to the principle of the Five Ws, a report can only be considered complete if it answers these questions.” [1]

We have jumped ahead from Jeremiah prophesying about the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah. He had prophesied that the people would be taken into captivity. We have jumped ahead and here in the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah is writing in poetic form a lament about the prophecies all coming to fruition.

A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. [2]

This lament of Jeremiah is asking that How of the 5 Ws and 1 H. We’ve looked at the 5 Ws in one way or another over the past several weeks.

He opens this passage with that word How. He’s not really asking a question, but rather, he is stating a fact.

This book and the book of Job for me evoke strong emotions. I remember in the late 90’s I was teaching the adult Sunday School class at a church we were attending in Virginia. One quarter the lessons were from the book of Job. I have never before or never since had such a strong emotional response to Sunday School lessons. I don’t know if it was because of a lot of changes in our lives at the time or what, but I really identified with Job. Nearly every Sunday morning I had to stop and collect myself because my emotions were getting the best of me and the tears would flow. I don’t know if the class members got anything from those lessons, but the spoke deeply to me.

Emotions can be very wide ranging. We often teach our patients at work about emotions and we use a tool called an emotion wheel. This is a picture of one.

I know you probable cannot see this very well, but the center represents some of the core emotions that a person might experience. In the blue wedge it begins with the emotion of sadness. A person might feel sad, but sometimes we need to dig down to find out why they are feeling sad, what is going on, what other emotions might they be experiencing.

A person might be sad because they are feeling a sense of despair. That despair might be coming from grief. Jeremiah is not just sad, but he is experiencing grief. He has prophesied that all of this was going to happen. He took no joy and speaking God’s word. Now that it has happened just as God said it would, Jeremiah is mourning what has happened.

He speaks the theme or tone of this short book when he writes there in verse 1.

Lamentations 1:1 (NKJV)

1 How lonely sits the city That was full of people!

What a sad picture that Jeremiah presents in the opening words of this poem. He begins with that word “How.” It isn’t using it as a question. He uses it to state the condition of Jerusalem and what it use to be like.

The people had broken their covenant with God. There is a “If” you do this, “Then” God will do that. “If” you don’t do this, “Then” God will do that. We see it spelled out in Leviticus.

Leviticus 26:3–5 CEB

3 If you live according to my rules, keep my commands, and do them, 4 I will give you rain at the proper time, the land will produce its yield, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. 5 Your threshing season will last until the grape harvest, and the grape harvest will last until planting time. You will eat your fill of food and live securely in your land.

That is the “If” - if the people live according to God’s rules and keep his commands then they will experience the blessings of God.

But, there is the “If” you don’t live according to God's rules and keep his commands then they will experience the discipline of God.

Leviticus 26:14–18 CEB

14 But if you do not obey me and do not carry out all these commands— 15 if you reject my rules and despise my regulations, not doing all my commands and breaking my covenant— 16 then I will do the following to you: I will bring horrific things: wasting diseases and fevers that make the eyes fail and drain life away. You will plant seed for no reason because your enemies will eat the food. 17 I will turn my face against you: you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you; and you will run away even when no one is chasing you. 18 If, despite all that, you still do not obey me, I will punish you for your sins seven more times:

Most of you know that Darlene and I bought an old, abandoned church building. I’ve begun trying to trace it’s history. If I’m correct it was built in the early 1890’s for a Swedish Lutheran Congregation. I don’t know when the Church of the Nazarene purchased the property. There is indication that there was church activity in the early 1960’s there in that town.

What was sad was the first time Darlene and I drove up to the church. The grass and weeds were waist high. The congregation has disbanded several years before. No one was taking care of the property. I don’t think that there is anything sadder than a vacant abandoned church.

The building was lonely and abandoned. Where there use to be a vibrant congregation, the place was abandoned. The hymnals were left were they were placed when the door was locked for the final time. The pulpit was vacant. The attendance board was frozen in time.

That is the picture that have in my mind when I read the opening words of Jeremiah’s lament.

Lam 1:1 “How lonely sits the city That was full of people!”

Jeremiah continues painting the picture by writing

Lamentations 1:1 (NKJV)

1 How like a widow is she, Who was great among the nations! The princess among the provinces Has become a slave!

Those of you who are a widow or widower, you have experienced that loneliness. I remember watching my mother navigate those first years without my father. She experienced times of loneliness and sadness as she learned to live as a single person. She had 7 living children and a bunch of grandchildren who could help her if needed, but as she would say - “You all have your own lives to live.” My siblings would help her when she would let us, she had a little bit of a stubborn streak.

That city that was once full of people has been destroyed and the people taken away in captivity.

Jeremiah writes that she was great among the nations at one time. The other nations looked up to Israel at one time. At one time, the surrounding nations wanted peace treaties with Israel because they witnessed how God had blessed them.

He says that Jerusalem was like a princess. What he is describing is that she was the daughter of royalty. God is the Heavenly Father, Jerusalem, the Jews were children of God.

Jeremiah says that she was once a princess, but now she is a slave.

This once grand city with throngs coming inside it’s gates to worship at the Temple is empty and lonely because those people have been taken and are now living in a foreign land.

Lamentations is not meant to be an upbeat book. It is a lament over the sin that had lead to this discipline by God.

The question that begs to be answered is this

Is sin worth it?

Israel wanted to be like the nations around them. God had said Exo 19:5-6 “5 So now, if you faithfully obey me and stay true to my covenant, you will be my most precious possession out of all the peoples, since the whole earth belongs to me. 6 You will be a kingdom of priests for me and a holy nation. These are the words you should say to the Israelites.””

That is another example of the If Then.

If you faithfully obey me and stay true to my covenant. But we know the rest of the story, they did not stay true. They wanted to be like the nations around them.

1 Sam 8:5-8 “5 They said to him, “Listen. You are old now, and your sons don’t follow in your footsteps. So appoint us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.” 6 It seemed very bad to Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” so he prayed to the Lord. 7 The Lord answered Samuel, “Comply with the people’s request—everything they ask of you—because they haven’t rejected you. No, they’ve rejected me as king over them. 8 They are doing to you only what they’ve been doing to me from the day I brought them out of Egypt to this very minute, abandoning me and worshipping other gods.”

Did you catch what God said to Samuel?

No, they’ve rejected me as king over them. 8 They are doing to you only what they’ve been doing to me from the day I brought them out of Egypt to this very minute, abandoning me and worshipping other gods.”

Was sin worth it? Well, when you fast forward several hundred years from Samuel we see that they got what they wanted and everything that they didn’t want. They wanted God when it benefitted them, but otherwise they ignored God and did their own thing.

Isn’t that a lot like Western Christianity today? We want God when He can benefit us, but otherwise we just do our own thing.

I spoke last week about God being a keeper of his promises. God keeps His word. He had been very clear about what would happen if they did not return to Him through repentance.

The ultimate keeping of His promise was when that baby was born on the first Christmas and was named Jesus.

Paul in the passage read to us early from his second letter to Timothy wrote:

2 Timothy 1:9 CEB

9 God is the one who saved and called us with a holy calling. This wasn’t based on what we have done, but it was based on his own purpose and grace that he gave us in Christ Jesus before time began.

God set that plan in motion when sin first entered this world. Paul said that God called us with a holy calling…in Christ Jesus before time began.

That has been God’s plan all along that we would be a holy people who lived lives pleasing to Him.

Sin destroyed that, but Jesus conquered sin and death when he died and rose victorious. The promised Holy Spirit was given so that we could live that life that is pleasing to God.

Paul goes on in verse 10 by writing

2 Tim 1:10 “10 Now his grace is revealed through the appearance of our savior, Christ Jesus. He destroyed death and brought life and immortality into clear focus through the good news.”

Last week I mentioned we are to be purveyors of hope. Here we are to show grace. The greatest news ever has been give to us. It is not for when it is convenient for us, but it is a life to be lived each day.

I asked that question, is sin worth it? No, it is not worth it in the long run. In the short term we may feel like we are getting something from whatever that sin is for us. But, in the end it damages and destroys our relationship with God. There is a great quote the emphasizes this point

Sin will take you farther than you want to go, it will keep you longer than you want to stay, and it will cost you more than you want to pay.

In Jesus letters found in the Revelation to the 7 Churches, He repeated tells them to repent, to change their ways.

If we really desire a revival. If we want to see the Holy Spirit poured out on us, it begins with repentance. It might not be repentance for something big, it might be simply neglecting our relationship with God. It might just be that we have been coasting along in life doing just whatever.

Jerusalem only had the memories left of what once was. Now they were living far away from home.

I often tell my patients that they can live with teh woulda, shoulda, couldas of life or they can begin to make changes.

I don’t want to live with memories of what once was. I want to live in the center of all those spiritual blessings that are already ours through Jesus.

I want to live in the center of the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

[1] Five Ws. (2022, September 7). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Ws

[2] Lament. (2022, September 8). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lament