When it feels like God is against us

Service Notes

Dylan preaches from James for 10 minutes

Remind the church of the Tills leaving for China

Prayer for Troell Family & Temple Baptist Church

Introduction

Quick Summary: The background to this Hebrew poem is the destruction of the temple and the city of the Jerusalem in 586 BC at the hands of the Babylonian army.  God, through the prophet Jeremiah, had warned the people of Judah that judgment was coming, but they failed to listen.  As a result, they faced the deserved judgment of God.

Lamentations 2:4 “4 He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, And slew all that were pleasant to the eye In the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.”

Mark Vroegop, author of Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy describes these times of life as the night time of our orbit around God’s will for our lives

We know that we will see the sun rise, if not this side of eternity, but in the darkness it seems like we are forsaken not that we are rotating into place

Psalm 89:46 “46 How long, Lord? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? Shall thy wrath burn like fire?”

Lamenting helps tune our heart to sing they praise

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,   Tune my heart to sing Thy grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing,   Call for songs of loudest praise. Jesus sought me when a stranger,   Wand’ring from the face of God; He, to save my soul from danger,   Interposed His precious blood.

Christian lament is one of the most theologically-rich things that we do, and it ought to be because what you really think about God, yourself, and the world surfaces in those moments.

It reminds us that there is a bigger symphony that is being played in the universe.  We may have an instrument and we may be able to make music, but only God plays the symphony.  How does lament relate to this? 

In two ways: 

1) It gives us the sheet music to play when we are invited into God’s tune.  In other words, it connects us back to the bigger story of God’s glory when we are hurting, confused, or struggling. 

2) In reading lament and reflecting on it, we are able to have God tune our hearts to His glory and to be warned.  In other words, lament reminds us that God is merciful and kind and gracious.  But he is also holy, just, and to be feared.

Grace is only amazing because judgment is real

God will bring restoration to His people, but this chapter is not about that.  It is only about judgment.

Chapter 2 sings a terrifying song about God’s glory in judgment.

We will divide this chapter into 3 sections

The wrath v.1-10

The sorrow v.11-17

The appeal v.18-22

The Wrath

God does not passively pursue holiness in the life of His people.

Underline all the actions taken by God toward Israel; look for He hath

We often try to edit the harsh realities of the wrath of God from the Bible, you will just have to skip this book and chapter

Seems to be without hope, the darkness before the dawn

Lamentations 2:1–10 (KJV 1900)

1 How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, And cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, And remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!

2 The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: He hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; He hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.

3 He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: He hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, And he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.

4 He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, And slew all that were pleasant to the eye In the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.

5 The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, He hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, And hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

6 And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: The Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, And hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.

7 The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, He hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; They have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.

8 The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: He hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: Therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.

9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: Her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; Her prophets also find no vision from the Lord.

10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: They have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

How? A cry of pain

Lamentations 2:1 “1 How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, And cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, And remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!”

Same start as chapter 1

More intense rendition of chapter 1, with 22 verses as well

Take note of what we see here because it sets the framework for what is to come:

The Lord is angry. This is not a comfortable thought or image, but it is real. 

The God of the universe can be justifiably and righteously angry. Even though the people of God are precious to Him (i.e., a daughter), He has set her under a cloud.

What kind of cloud?  It is a cloud of judgment. The glory of the people of God has fallen. The blessing of God has been removed. 

The light of the nations has been extinguished.  A blessed people are now a disciplined people.

The temple and the city seemed to have been forgotten by God. Ezekiel 8-10 records how the glory of God left the temple.  The beauty of God’s presence was gone.

God’s hand

Is God not slow to anger? Psalm 103:8 “8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.”

Lamentations 2:2-3 “2 The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: He hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; He hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof. 3 He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: He hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, And he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.”

We should see the extent of the destruction and how bad it really is. 

Jeremiah clearly wants us to know that God is the one who is behind it.

Behind the Babylonian army and the judgment of Judah is a holy God.

God deals with sin on every level

Destroyed their places to worship v.6-7

Destroyed their protection. v.8

Destroyed the culture v.9-10

God leveled His own temple.  He scattered His own people.  He ruined His own city.  Why?  Because as important as Israel is to God, there is something more important:  God’s own righteousness. - NOT TOO BIG TO FAIL

Questions we must ask

How big is God’s holiness and righteousness to me?

Do I take my sin seriously?

Have I trusted Christ for the forgiveness of my sins?

Is my heart tuned for God’s glory?

Transitional Statement: Now we turn to the response of the people. Lam 2:10 “10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: They have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.”

The sorrow

Few things are more moving than the suffering of children in the midst of a tragedy.

The judgment of Jerusalem cannot not just be studied; it must be mourned.  Think of this as the difference between museums in Washington, D.C.:  The Museum of Natural History and the Holocaust Museum. 

Both contain information and history, but they were not built for the same reason.

Lamentations 2:11–17 (KJV 1900)

11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, My liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; Because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.

12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? When they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, When their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom.

13 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?

14 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: And they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; But have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.

15 All that pass by clap their hands at thee; They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?

16 All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: They hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.

17 The Lord hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: He hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, He hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.

God has used a victorious enemy to be the instrument of His judgment.

The enemies of God are laughing at the promises of God and the destruction of the Jerusalem.  They proudly act as if they are the ones who have brought the people of God down. Lam 2:16 “16 All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: They hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.”

Led astray by false teachers

Lam 2:14 “14 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: And they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; But have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.”

Hands of men

Acts 2:23 “23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:”

Transitional Statement: This must lead to crying out to God. Lamentations 2:18 “18 Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: Give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.”

The Appeal

In their sinfulness, they had ignored God.  Now He has their attention.

Lamentations 2:18-19 “18 Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: Give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease. 19 Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches Pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: Lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, That faint for hunger in the top of every street.”

Consider whom we are because of your covenant with us

They appeal direction to God. Lam 2:20 “20 Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?”

Examples of the horror of the judgment of God:

Should we have to eat our own children.

Should he prophets be slain in the sanctuary

Similar appeal in Hab 3:2 “2 O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make known; In wrath remember mercy.”

Experiencing, witnessing or remembering God’s judgment is meant to turn our hearts back to God.

If you are not a follower of Jesus, it may be that this message that awakens you to the seriousness of sin

1. Sin must be dealt with completely

Isaiah 61:8 “8 For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; And I will direct their work in truth, And I will make an everlasting covenant with them.”

Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Lamentations 2 is not the place where the seriousness of sin is seen on greatest display

Galatians 3:13 “13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:”

2. You can be removed from the place of condemnation

We all deserve Lamentations 2

John 3:18 “18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

As believers you may know, right now, that you are under the disciplining hand of the Lord.

God disciplines those whom He loves

Hebrews 12:6 “6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”

All suffering is connected to sin; but not all sin is connected to the sin of the sufferer

dealing with the discipline from God from your sin

dealing with the consequences of the sin of others

Conclusion

This chapter invites us to all soberly have our hearts tuned again to God’s glory, and for us to heed the warning in Hebrews 12:29

Hebrews 12:29 “29 For our God is a consuming fire.”