Lament, You Idolaters

ME (A hook):

Beloved, the Apostle Peter says to the church,

I urge you as exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh.

As exiles, he says.

I don’t know about you,

But theoretically,

I know and understand that this means we are exiles.

But how often do you truly feel like an exile?

I think in some ways,

We might recognize how we are exiles,

In terms of the moral landscape here in our American context.

But unfortunately,

It seems that many of us react with either fear, anger, or a mixture of both.

Sometimes its simply written all over our faces.

Other times,

We post about how disgusted we are on social media,

Complaining about how our country is getting ruined,

Mobilizing believers toward political activism to save our country.

Engaging in culture wars is a concerning pattern for believers.

We must come to terms with the reality that Christianity is detached from American culture.

We are exiles.

We should not expect a smooth ride.

To be honest,

I don’t know if we know how to be exiles.

But I know we don’t want to be exiles.

Lamentations is a book written amid the Exile.

And it gives us a language to express our struggles,

And our fears.

It helps us to see ourselves and the world through a different lens.

Lamenting over the hardship of exile reveals our hidden idols.

Lamentations mourns the effects of suffering on an entire society.

But not just because of the loss.

Rather, it is, as Mark Vroegop calls it in his commentary,

“A memorial to the futility of trusting in anything but God.”

Lamentations mourns over the objects of trust that still exist in our culture today.

So, the lament of Jeremiah teaches us important lessons.

It calls us,

As exiles,

To loosen our grips on the idols of our culture,

The idols we cling to for trust.

It says to Lament, You Idolaters.

Slide

For our outline this morning...

Hardship Reveals Idolaters

Habits of Idolaters

Hope For Idolaters

Biblical lament addresses the ways we entangle our hearts with our culture.

In ch. 4,

We come to the most vivid portrayal of Jerusalem’s agony.

The graphic,

Almost savage imagery catches us off guard.

Surely, we may think,

The Bible is too holy a book for such violent acts.

It is understandable we might feel this way.

But the reality is,

We must trust the Bible as a whole or not at all.

If we were to only accept the parts of the Bible we find tolerable,

Then we make ourselves the authority over the Bible,

And over God.

But in a strange way,

I believe it would be harder to trust the Bible,

If God did not include chapters like this.

Because this is real,

It has a sense of earthiness,

And utter honesty about the horrors of life in this fallen world.

As the people lament in response to their punishment,

They still confess their assurance that the punishment will eventually cease.

It assures us that God will right all that is wrong.

Which is deeply liberating.

Because it means we can release our need to judge now,

Leaving it in His wise hands,

And instead,

Confess our own idolatry,

Trusting that because of what God has promised,

His punishment will eventually end.

WE Hardship Reveals Idolaters (Why does this matter to us?):

Slide

The first two chapters showed us how broken this world is,

And how holy God is.

Chapter 3 showed us how we can cultivate true hope by rehearsing God’s truths,

Now ch. 4 reveals the things we wrongly place our hope in,

It reveals our idols.

Living in this world is like being a cup filled to the brim.

Inside, we are filled with sin,

Which deserves God’s wrath.

We do our best to keep it inside,

To keep it hidden.

As long as life remains stable and still,

Everything seems good.

But the slightest bump in the road,

And the sin that is inside of us,

Comes spilling out,

Causing a mess around us.

The appearance that everything is good goes out the window.

Hardship shakes up our lives,

Spilling out that sin that is inside of us.

The sin that we either forget about,

Or try to pretend is not there.

But hardship reveals these hidden sins,

These hidden enemies,

These hidden idols.

Slide

Now before going too much further,

It might be helpful to understand what an idol is,

And what it means to be an idolater.

The Bible uses the term idol to describe the things we trust in place of God.

This type of trust is both emotional and practical.

The most common types of idols in the Bible are literal false gods and goddesses.

But idolatry did not end just because people stopped worshiping literal gods and goddesses.

In his helpful book on this subject, Counterfeit Gods,

Timothy Keller wrote:

“[An idol] is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. A counterfeit God is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living.”

So, idols can be anything.

Satan especially loves to make good things into idols.

Danny Akin notes,

“When a good thing becomes a god thing it becomes a bad thing because it becomes an idol.”

An idolater worships idols.

And we are idolaters.

We allow our idols to control us.

The true test of idolatry is how we react to losing an idol.

Slide

Keller noted the key distinction between sorrow and despair,

“Sorrow comes from losing one good thing among others…Despair, however, is inconsolable, because it comes from losing an ultimate thing. When you lose the ultimate source of your meaning or hope, there are not alternative sources to turn to. It breaks your spirit.”

Think about a loss you have experienced,

Or maybe a season saturated by tears or sadness,

What did you learn about yourself?

What lessons did you discover as you considered the brokenness of life?

What idols did it reveal?

Maybe you are in one of those seasons currently.

Maybe something has happened that has caused your cup to spill out.

If so, there are important lessons you can learn from it.

Allow your grief to show what is surfacing in your heart.

Let God reveal bit by bit,

The things you have put too much trust in.

Let Him use that pain as a platform for worship,

As a conduit through which you grow spiritually,

Starting with repentance.

Slide

This is what our passage provides,

An uncomfortable yet helpful lament.

Because ch. 4 highlights how symbols of success and power are undone.

It mourns over the idols we put our hope in,

Not only expressing sorrow over the loss,

But also over misplaced trust.

When your life or culture seems to fall apart,

Allow it to show you the Habits of Idolaters.

GOD Habits of Idolaters (Teach the text):

The first Habit of Idolaters,

Is banking on financial security.

Back in 2 Kings 25:9,

It says during the siege of Jerusalem,

The Babylonian king...

2 Kings 25:9 (ESV)

burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.

When Nebuchadnezzar laid all these places to waste,

He burned up all the gold and the rich furnishings with it.

So, Jeremiah begins chapter 4 lamenting the loss of security and glory provided by this wealth.

Jerusalem was not only the spiritual center of Israel,

It was also the economic center.

The temple stood tall with its grand architecture and glorious jewels.

Everything in it was made with precious metals.

The place was littered with gold!

Their wealth was a statement!

More gold means more security,

And more glory.

But now,

Jeremiah says,

The gold has become dull and tarnished,

And all the holy stones are scattered around the streets.

The city has literally lost its luster.

The temple is destroyed.

What was cherished is now in ruins.

All the trust and security from the gold and the temple is now gone.

Likewise, today,

Would you say money has power?

I think most would say yes.

Money certainly provides a sense of security.

It can even create a sense of identity,

It can open doors for different opportunities.

Money creates this sense of self-sufficiency.

But that is why a recession,

A pay cut,

Or a bad investment,

Can reveal this misplaced trust in financial security.

When your 401k loses value,

When you get an email about financial cuts at work,

How you react to that loss,

Can reveal if you are ultimately trusting in financial security.

Banking on financial security can easily become a false god,

A habit for idolaters.

It can take the hardship of financial stress to reveal this idol.

Over the past week or so,

I have been looking into the housing market,

Hoping to possibly buy a house.

And I am not sure if you know this,

But houses are not very cheap right now!

So, I am researching costs, mortgage options, and budgets.

Because on one hand I want to make a good decision.

But when I find myself in the thick of it,

I can start to feel this pervasive anxiousness.

I worry about missing a potential house,

I check and recheck numbers,

I struggle to sleep at night,

Because I keep running through things in my head.

Why?

Why am I worrying?

Why is it so consuming?

Because I have the subtle habit of banking on financial security.

And when God exposes this anxiety for what it truly is,

I am left looking at my idol.

This is so deceptive,

I am sure you can relate to the heavy burden of feeling financially secure.

But with God’s help,

He can put into perspective,

How shallow and foolish my worries and fears about money.

Money is a common idol,

Lurking beneath the surface in all our lives.

Are you familiar with its subtle captivity?

It can manifest itself in a variety of ways.

It can simply be the success associated with having lots of money,

It could be the satisfaction you seek from being able to buy something new,

It could be the assurance of feeling like you are providing for your family,

Or it could be the hope for a bright future.

Regardless of how it manifests itself,

It is so easy to bank on financial security.

When uncertainty enters the equation,

This idol rears its ugly head.

But biblical lament penetrates through our misplaced trust,

And reveals the hopelessness of banking on financial security.

Slide

The second habit of idolaters is looking to people for saving.

Hardship can also reveal this habit.

Because it confronts our belief that people can solve all our problems.

Whether we look to politicians,

Church leaders,

Or our employers,

We so easily put our hope in other people.

Its why fame and power is so appealing.

Because we live vicariously through those we look up to,

And believe life would be better if they were in control.

Here in Lamentations,

Jerusalem is in rubble.

In vs. 2,

The focus of the gold being gone quickly transfers to people.

Back in Ex. 19:5, God said to His people,

Exodus 19:5 ESV

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;

This is what the people were to God,

His treasured possession,

Who were exceedingly precious.

But now,

There is no person in Jerusalem who could fix the brokenness.

They are smeared with sin,

Regarded as clay jars,

Like pieces of broken pottery.

They went from precious and valuable,

To common and fragile.

And there is no one to stop the destruction.

Look ahead to vs. 5,

Bible

Those who were raised in wealth,

Suddenly fell into dire want and danger.

They used to feast on delicacies,

But now they are destitute in the streets,

Rummaging through trash heaps.

This picture is a common echo throughout the prophets.

Not only did this happen to the rich,

Slide

Vs. 7 shows how it happened to the princes who were known for their purity and fame.

The princes of God’s people is often understood as a reference to the Nazirites of God’s people.

It is a phrase used for a person who is separated from their contemporaries,

As leaders in holiness.

The Nazirite vow was a devoted commitment that was done voluntary.

It was a special vow of separation,

For a limited period of time.

During the length of the vow,

They could not eat or drink anything from the grapevine,

Because it was considered a source of pleasure,

And abstaining from it represented a life being given over to God.

And they would not cut their hair or their beard,

Because it signified abstaining from human adornment.

So, during the length of the vow,

They had to be careful to avoid becoming ceremonially unclean for any reason.

Num. 6:7 says,

Numbers 6:7 ESV

Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head.

If someone happened to die in this person’s presence,

They had to make certain prescribed offerings,

Shave their head,

And start the period of separation all over again.

But once a person fulfilled their Nazirite vow,

A special ceremony was held to recognize their commitment.

Thus, they were,

As Jeremiah says,

Whiter than milk,

And the beauty of their form was like sapphire.

However, they are now no longer special,

Or glamorous.

All that set them apart has been obliterated.

They are now darker than soot,

And their skin is shriveled on their bones.

Slide

Even the king was captured.

Jeremiah 39 records the tragic details surrounding the king’s arrest as he fled the city.

He had to watch his sons get slaughtered,

Before they gouged his eyes out,

Then they bound him in chains,

And took him back to Babylon.

Vs. 20 helps us to feel how disheartening this was,

Bible (20)

The Lord’s anointed is talking about the king that was promised to come in the line of David.

The people’s hope reached its height,

After King Josiah brought about reforms for Jerusalem.

But this reform ended up asserting their independence,

Which to them,

All but confirmed the ancient promise to David.

However, King Zedekiah,

Became the last king,

After being deported by Nebuchadnezzar,

And now, all seemed hopeless.

Their breath of life,

The king,

Was captured by the Babylonians.

This reminds us of human limitations.

Human government and theories and defense systems are all flawed.

Nothing involving humans can be absolute.

So, biblical lament reminds us of how dangerous it is to put too much hope in human leaders.

Lamentations warns us that our savior will not live in the White House,

Nor will they hold a seat on a board of directors,

Nor will they be in a position of leadership in the church.

Hardship, loss, and uncertainty reveals how hopeless it is to look to people for saving.

This is not only true on a broad level,

But on a personal level as well,

Including our closest relationships.

A good friend is like a refreshing glass of water when walking through pain.

But they do not have the ability to completely heal your heart.

There will always remain a God-sized hole in your heart that no human can fill.

If you try to fit a friend into that hole,

You are certain to be disappointed.

If someone tries to fit you into that hole,

You will be overwhelmed.

Looking to other people for saving,

Is a habit of idolaters.

Because only God can truly save.

This is a hard lesson to learn.

As a pastor,

I have walked through some hard seasons with others.

As I do,

I am always made keenly aware that there are just certain parts of the heart that I as a human cannot reach.

I can encourage,

I can pray,

I can offer a hug,

And it can all be helpful,

But it will always be insufficient at stopping the pain.

We can walk with people through grief,

But we can’t stop it,

We can’t heal them,

No matter how hard we try,

Sorrow will remain.

It is only God,

Who,

Over time,

Can bring the healing we all need.

Slide

Jeremiah promised this back in Jer. 23:5-8,

Jeremiah 23:5–8 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

As we lament,

Not only do we express our sorrow,

But we begin to see how we make people into idols,

By looking to them for saving,

When only God’s promised Messiah can ultimately save.

Perhaps a loss in your life has revealed this misplaced hope you have put on others?

Perhaps you have tried to fill the grief with either affection or attention from another?

You could do this with a close friend,

A spouse or other family member,

A pastor or elder or other member in the church.

Or maybe, your grief has caused you to turn inward,

Hoping to figure out how to save yourself from the pain.

We must always remember,

The first step of biblical lament is turning to God,

Not turning to those closest to you,

And certainly not turning inward to yourself.

This chapter warns us of the habit of looking to people for saving.

Slide

The third habit of idolaters is a hankering for cultural comfort

(3)

At this time,

Jerusalem was dark,

And in a desperate state.

It worsened the way the people were treating one another.

Their values had eroded.

People were neglectful,

Even more neglectful than animals.

Vs. 3 says,

Bible (3)

Jackals are a desert predator that hunt in packs.

They are often used to symbolize desolation.

Yet, even the mothers of these desolate creatures offer to nurse their young.

That is not the case for Jeremiah’s dear people.

They are neglecting their own young during this crisis.

They have become cruel,

Like wild ostriches.

An animal that symbolizes the callousness of parents toward their children,

Because they would just lay an egg,

Then leave it as if it were not hers.

So, Jeremiah is using the ostrich to express the indifference of parents toward their children.

(4)

It says in vs. 4 how nursing infants were starving so much,

That their tongues were sticking to the roof their mouths.

They were begging for food,

But no one gave them any.

Slide

(10)

Vs. 10 shows how the effects of the famine were so horrific,

That compassionate women who,

Under normal circumstances,

Would never think of such a thing,

Resorted to cooking their own children for food.

Hopelessness had taken hold of the entire city,

And it made the people want to die.

Look back one verse.

Bible (9)

(9)

The misery of the people is desperate,

And wretched.

They would have been better off to have been killed at the hands of the Babylonians,

Than to be left here to starve.

Because it would have been a swift death.

Death by famine, however, lingers,

And as it drags on,

It continues to expose the horrors of God’s judgment to a far more dreadful degree.

The darkness of this scene clearly shows how the culture of Jerusalem has completely unraveled.

The norms of their society collapsed and crumbled.

The most basic of relationships were dysfunctional,

There was no compassion,

Not even from parents toward their children.

Jeremiah’s lament reveals how a hankering for cultural comfort is a habit of idolaters.

His mourning over this loss is also a warning of how broken society can become.

As the church today,

We too should lament like Jeremiah,

To reveal what is dysfunctional in our culture as well.

Because it is all too easy to ignore the brokenness and cruelty around us.

Peace and safety are not bad things,

But it can create a heartless disregard for the problems that are bubbling beneath the surface.

Hidden behind well-kept lawns,

White picket fences,

And the facade of a happy home can be a variety of problems;

Abuse, addiction, attempted suicide, sexual assault and sex-trafficking, starvation, and more.

These are not problems only happening in other parts of the world.

They are happening right here.

Feel the weight of this reality.

People exploit one another in atrocious ways.

And it should lead us to lament.

It should sink into our head and heart,

And move us to pray.

Biblical lament can give us new eyes to see the true condition of our culture,

Rather than just groaning from a distance,

Or posting pictures of families from the 50s on Facebook complaining about society today in comparison,

Or simply ignoring it altogether,

Biblical lament can open our hearts to enter into the pain of those who are being exploited.

And this shatters that idol of hankering for cultural comfort,

Of this idealistic picture of a 50s family that is safe and protected from the problems around us.

Are there any cultural issues that you tend to ignore?

Let me suggest,

The next time you pray,

Take a few minutes to talk to God about generational poverty,

Broken families,

Pregnant women who have had, or are considering, and abortion,

The babies who have been aborted,

Racism and other forms of prejudice,

Unemployment,

Addiction,

All forms of abuse,

And any other part of our culture that is broken that you may think of.

If you are a consumer of the news,

Let it move you to lament to God,

Rather than despair or disgust that you air out on social media.

Because lament will soften your heart to the reality of the problems around you,

While despair or disgust will harden your heart.

Biblical lament does not allow us to ignore the cries of brokenness from our culture.

Slide

A fourth habit of idolaters we see in our passage,

Is the wrongful exaltation of spiritual leaders.

Crisis often directly affects a person’s relationship with spiritual leaders.

Here, Jeremiah mourns over the loss of credibility among the leaders who were supposed to be righteous.

In fact,

The spiritual leaders were complicit in the decay of Jerusalem.

Look at vs. 13.

Bible (13)

It says Jerusalem was tragically invaded and overtaken.

Because the prophets and priests were guilty of sin.

Jeremiah warned of this again and again.

For example,

He said in Jer. 5:30-31.

Jeremiah 5:30–31 ESV

An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?

As a result,

The spiritual leaders reaped the tragic consequences.

Jeremiah said the leaders are wandering, blind, isolated, and defiled.

Slide

(14)

Again,

Now, the leaders are stumbling blindly through the streets.

God, in His wrath,

Made them ritually unclean,

They were defiled with blood.

It is their own blood that defiles them.

So, no one dared to even touch their garments.

They were now the outcasts of society.

(15)

And the people who once cheered for these leaders,

Looking to them as an example,

Now shout at them,

“AWAY! UNCLEAN! DON’T TOUCH US!”

The leaders were now fugitives in their own broken culture.

They were homeless and despised.

It was a tragic irony given the position of purity spiritual leaders were to maintain.

Now, their honor had all but vanished.

(16)

God Himself caused them to separate and scatter.

Vs. 16 says He no longer was watching over them.

And as a result,

They were no longer respected,

And no longer found any favor.

They lost their credibility and their influence.

This is a warning for both leaders and follower,

Of how far spiritual leaders can fall.

It is an especially sobering warning for leaders.

Spiritual apathy from these religious leaders is one of the key reasons Israel lost their way.

Jeremiah’s lament shows us the connection between this type of wanting leadership and God’s discipline.

You see,

As the church,

Rather than trying to leverage some sort of political influence to win the culture wars,

We should be taking a look in the mirror.

Spiritual leaders are called to walk alongside their people,

To model self-examination and repentance.

For Jerusalem,

Exile provided an opportunity for them to lament their spiritual waywardness.

As exiles today,

We have the opportunity to lament our spiritual waywardness,

Not as a culture,

But as the church.

We must be careful not to idolize those in spiritual leadership.

Both locally and on a broader level.

And we who are in positions of spiritual leadership must lead in biblical lament.

I remember when I was living in North Carolina,

I participated in my first church-discipline gathering.

I came to a members-only prayer meeting,

Our pastor stood before us all,

Seemingly holding back tears,

As he shared with us the last step of what had been a long and heavy journey of disappointment.

A member of the church,

Who had been a close friend to many,

And a former missionary,

Had decided to leave his wife and children,

And pursue a homosexual relationship.

I was shocked!

I didn’t know him personally,

But this guy was a faithful missionary.

Yet even after multiple attempts to restore him to God, the church, and his family,

He refused.

And now,

Here was our pastor,

Calling us all to pray,

And to attempt to restore him to God.

As he led us in a tearful prayer for this man,

While also reminding us to examine our own hearts.

It was so sobering for me personally.

Because my initial reaction was one of anger and disgust.

My pastors prayer cut straight to my heart,

It first humbled me,

But then it made me realize that any leader,

Even those we are tempted to wrongly exalt,

Can fall.

And when a leader fails like this,

It is incredibly sobering.

That is what Jeremiah is mourning about in this chapter.

And it is a reminder of the danger of wrongly exalting spiritual leaders.

Slide

The fifth and final habit of idolaters we see in this chapter is the entitlement of God’s favor.

This idol presumes God’s blessing.

And for the nation of Israel,

This presumption kind of made sense.

They were God’s chosen people after all.

We see this affirmed earlier in the OT.

However, this does not entitle them to ignore God’s warnings.

Prior to the exile,

They had seen themselves as special,

Believing they not only deserved,

But they had earned their greatness,

Rather than recognizing that all they had was by the grace of God.

So, Lamentations repeatedly makes it clear,

Jerusalem is under the discipline of God.

And Jeremiah uses shocking language to describe it.

Saying in vs. 6 that their chastisement is greater than Sodom.

(6)

The Hebrew word for chastisement can also be translated as “punishment” or “iniquity.”

So, the use of the word here shows how the intense suffering of Jeremiah’s dear people is linked repeatedly to their sin and idolatry.

You see,

Greater privilege does not give greater entitlement,

But rather greater responsibility.

Jerusalem had the privilege of God’s revelation,

So, they had a greater degree of guilt for their wrong doing.

That is why their punishment is greater than Sodom.

Real quick,

If you are unfamiliar,

Sodom was an infamously wicked city,

That God destroyed by raining down sulfur and fire from heaven.

After which,

It became a metaphor symbolizing the wrath of God being poured out for sin and judgment.

By comparing Jerusalem to Sodom here,

Jeremiah is not only comparing their judgment,

But also for the sins and idolatry that preceded the judgment.

Slide

Later in vs. 11,

Jeremiah says,

Bible (11)

God’s anger is the explanation for the misery that has fallen on Jerusalem for her sin and idolatry.

He has exhausted His wrath,

Pouring out His burning anger,

Igniting a fire in Jerusalem,

Consuming the city’s foundations.

This was His planned judgment,

And it had been fulfilled.

Resulting in this foreboding sense that their days were numbered,

And the end was drawing near.

Slide

Look at vs. 18,

Bible (18)

The blessing of God was covered with a cloud.

I would say our culture is one that is rather optimistic.

We have the idea of the American Dream,

Or the American Spirit,

This belief in our culture that life will get better.

That if we are in a recession,

It will end.

We are a land filled with opportunity,

That,

As little orphan Annie sings,

The sun will come up tomorrow!

I appreciate this sense of optimism.

But I do also wonder how many of us make this culture-based optimism an idol?

How many of us root this optimism in the belief that “God blesses America”?

My theory is that this is at least part of the reason we react negatively to our status as exiles.

We are not familiar with what it means to spiritually survive in a culture that works against our optimistically bright future,

And we are so emotionally and spiritually wrapped into this culture-based optimism,

That we don’t know how to live as exiles in our culture.

Despite history showing Christians finding their way forward through hostile cultures for centuries.

You see,

Lamentations reminds us that God’s blessing does not entitle us to a pain-free life,

Or a culture that will receive us.

Biblical lament helps us to see how believers persevered through cultures littered with idols.

And it allows us search our own hearts for the ways those idols have invaded in our lives as well.

So, when God’s blessing seems far away,

Lament!

Because you and I are not entitled to God’s favor,

He is gracious to bless us.

YOU Hope for Idolaters (Response):

Slide

Our chapter this morning helps us to see these subtle idols that lurk beneath the surface.

It shows these habits of idolaters:

Banking on financial security,

Looking to people for saving,

Hankering for cultural comfort,

Wrongly exalting spiritual leaders,

And entitlement to God’s favor.

This list is not exhaustive.

These are just a few of the false gods that you and I tend to cling to in our hearts.

Hardship that causes you to lose them,

Gives you the opportunity to be reminded of where your trust and affection should lie.

Lamenting over the toppling of these idols,

Reorients us exiles,

Back to the King and kingdom we are supposed to long for.

WE (Paint a picture of the future):

This is a weighty chapter.

But it is not a chapter without hope.

Slide

Look at how it ends.

Bible (21-22)

Some helpful context,

Edom is one of Israel’s historic enemies,

Who had this ancient affinity for blood.

The name Edom,

Goes back to Jacob’s brother Esau,

Making him the father of Edom.

So, although Edom is mocking Jerusalem now,

During the exile.

The chapter ends,

Saying God’s wrath will fall on them,

And they will not be delivered.

Israel’s guilt and punishment, however, will eventually end,

Because of God’s mercy and compassion.

God promises not to prolong His people’s exile longer than necessary.

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Brothers and sisters,

There is a purpose behind the darkness of exile.

Revealing our idols is part of God’s plan.

When hardship reveals our idols,

Biblical lament invites us to examine ourselves.

It allows us to see more clearly the objects in which we wrongly place our trust.

Hardship not only reveals our idols,

It helps us to see who we are,

And what we truly love.

So, brothers and sisters,

As you walk through various hardships,

Don’t miss the life-changing lessons God wants to teach you.

Emotional healing is a good goal,

But it cannot be our only focus.

Exile is often the most important classroom.

It is an uncomfortable but helpful teacher.

So, rather than resisting,

Let it reveal your misplaced trust,

Release your embrace of it,

Take hold of God’s forgiveness,

And He will both renew and transform you.

Lamentations is a memorial of hard lessons.

May biblical lament help us as the Church accept our status as exiles,

And instead of running to anger or fear,

May we run to God.

It is good to lament.

Because it addresses the ways we entangle our hearts with our culture.

As we wrestle in our exile,

We will rediscover the grace of lament.

Pray.