Lamentations 1 - How lonely sits the city

Victories: 1. Thanks to all who were able to help out for Donna Shively’s Funeral. 2. Tonight we are going to look at Poor Time Management in our video series on being Transformed by the Bible.

Prayer: Fairmount Baptist Church Bob Lenons

Missionary Prayer: Doug & Jenny McGee / China Pray for safety and protection for the McGee as they minister

Intro

Does sadness make you uncomfortable? Either your own or the sadness of others? I know for me the feeling of sadness seems so personal that I don’t really want to share it and I grew up being told that boys don’t cry so I have this ingrained thought that sadness and emotions are to be stuffed not shared. However while I have held these views on sadness that doesn’t make them right. In fact I believe as I have grown up and become more mature my feelings on sadness and and mourning have changed significantly. Having a wife and daughter have helped with both of these things. I remember one time sitting at the table for dinner and looking across at my then barely past toddler daughter and seeing her cry for no apparent reason she was just in tears and I looked at Rachel helplessly and asked “What’s wrong?” Her response was, “Nothing, welcome to having a girl.” You see sometimes tears are just a part of life and yet we still feel uncomfortable around them.

The pastor Mark Vroegop said, “Although you don’t remember it, the first sound you made when you left the warm and protected home of your mother’s womb was a loud wail! A heartfelt protest. Every human being has the same opening story. Life begins with tears. It’s simply a part of what it means to be human- to cry is human.” Sadness and tears may be human but that doesn’t make them any easier to deal with.

This often uncomfortable and deeply personal topic of working through grief, pain, sadness, and loss is where I want to take us as we walk through the book of Lamentations. Lamentations is one of the prophetic books of the Old Testament which are divided into major prophets and minor prophets based on size of the book. Lamentations is a major prophet and is the second book in the Old Testament written by the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet because he was to bring the word of God to the people of Israel in the midst of their captivity in Babylon. Therefore Jeremiah had to watch as God allowed Israel to fall apart and fall to pieces. Jeremiah watched as his friends and family were taken away. Jeremiah watched as the city of Jerusalem was destroyed. And then Jeremiah was given the task by God to tell the people why this had all happened and that was even harder because he had to tell this people who had just lost everything that it was all their own faithlessness, their own evilness, their own hatred of God that had caused it all. As we will read this task was weighty and Jeremiah found himself dealing with the grief of the people as well as his own grief through it all. Lamentations is a soul wrenching, tear inducing, wail to God and while at times it will be hard to hear it there is purpose behind it all and we can find our own peace through it as well. Let’s read. Lamentations 1:1-7

We Grieve

There is a loss felt here in the opening line of the book of Lamentations and it is felt deeply. You might feel it yourself if you have ever loved something, or someone greatly and then experienced their loss. All of us want to experience joy and happiness but life doesn’t always give us those things. Instead, the most memorable times of your life most likely have been the times when you have experienced pain and loss and hurt and troubles I know they are for me. The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:25 tells of his own life experiences while serving the Lord, “Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;” These times of hurt and pain for Paul weren’t necessarily wanted nor were they times of happiness and joy but they did provide for Paul lessons and the greatest lesson learned by Paul during his times of great hurt was that he could depend on God through it all.

Here is Paul’s conclusion to all this misery, 2 Corinthians 12:9b–10 “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Christ is the reason for Paul’s confidence, In Christ and Christ alone is Paul’s life made strong. Life will never be easy nor will it come gift wrapped and handed to you on a silver platter, therefore, while we want all the happiness in the world we are more likely going to receive more pain than happiness, more troubles than ease, and more hurt than joy.

“How lonely sits the city,” points us to the inevitable conclusion of life, nothing on this earth will last forever and pain will be a normal part of life, but in Christ we can find our strength. The author Jeremiah looked out over was the city of Jerusalem and what He saw was a city that in it’s day was grand and the pinnacle and pride of the nations. Jerusalem was the city that David built it was the seat of Davids power and might. Jerusalem was the city that Solomon made great. The palaces were things of legend drawing in even the famed Queen of Sheba to gawk in awe at its splendor. The center of that city was not some castle or tower but something much grander it was the Temple of God and this was the city of God. A temple that was the seat of God the place that God called His earthly home. A temple filled with Gold and fine cloth, Silver and expensive wood. What Jeremiah saw was the great city of Jerusalem in ruins. How could God’s city come to ruin? The walls were torn down the temple was in ruins and even it’s people were gone. The lifeblood of the city carrying out their lives from one end to another just gone. Hope itself seemed to have left.

If you peruse through the verses here in chapter 1 you can hear the cries of the people through the words of Jeremiah. Read 11, 16, 17, 19, 21

In many ways we see this paralleled in what we can assume was the reaction of the people closest to Jesus on that not so good Friday so many years ago. How can this man who was so obviously the Messiah be dead. This man whom John the Baptist called, John 1:29b–31a “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel,” a man whom the disciples declared, Matthew 16:16 “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” and even the solider at the cross said of Jesus after his death, Mark 15:39 “So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!”” How could this man who was so obviously God the Messiah be dead. The feeling of dread and grief must have been deep.

Let me remind you; we came into this life crying what makes us think that we won’t deal with despair, sorrow, depression, hurts and pains. If you think life is going to always come up roses and kittens then you have yourself completely deceived, because we are not promised ease we are promised hardship.

We Mean Well

When we are sad or we are around people who are going through sadness, hurt or pain our normal response is to want to comfort them and we do so most often by giving them trite responses meant to provide kindness and caring. We say things like, “It’s going to be OK.” or “I am sorry you are going through this but things are going to get better.” The truth is our words which are meant to help fall flat and they aren’t as helpful as we want them to be for the person in the midst of their pain.

As believers we take the step of using well meaning quotes of scripture to add spirituality to our trite but unhelpful responses, “You know God works out all things for His purposes.” or “God never gives you more than you can handle.” Once again these are well meaning but they do little to actually help and even less to provide comfort for the person or yourself. So what in the world are we to do when our well meaning words fall flat? We are to Lament and help others lament. For the person going through the pain take the time to mourn through the process of lament. Cry, shed tears, let your emotions out for a time and then seek solace with God by reading and wrestling with His promises. Lamenting is cathartic for the soul as we turn from our inner pain and sorrow toward our God who alone can provide us the solace we need.

If you have done any reading through the book of Job you have surely seen a man who has dealt with pain and sadness. He lost everything and in the midst of it he has three friends who show up and basically tell him that all of this is his fault and that if He would just repent of his sins then God might see fit to bless him again. These friends don’t even give the trite answers to Job’s grief that we might, however I have also learned not to be so hard on these three friends because their reproof of Job is not how they started out. Instead they heard about their friend Job and they came together in order to comfort him and it says in Job 2:12–13 “And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.” Think about that, they saw their friends grief was great and they sat with him for 7 days without speaking. They just grieved alongside their friend. No words; just comfort and acknowledgement of their friends grief. I know that I have never done this. I feel ill-equipped to help grieving families through their funerals and times of sickness, let alone spending 7 days silently grieving alongside someone.

We mean well and yet I believe I can learn a lesson from these friends. For one we don’t have to even speak in order to show care and love. 2 let your actions show you care. 3 prayer is the most helpful thing you can do. You can pray with them you can pray for them it doesn’t matter just pray. They are grieving, they are in pain, they are hurting and they are questioning the goodness of God so the best thing you can do at this time is pray.

We Question

When we feel grief like this our very souls hurt and we have moments of physical pain, moments of uncontrollable anger, moments of withering sorrow and through it all we keep asking the question Why? Why Lord would you allow this to happen, Why Lord do you feel so far from me, Why if you are good would you allow this kind of pain? The questions seem to fall out of our mouths and yet when we say them instead of just think them they seem blasphemous. When you hear them from other peoples mouths you might be tempted to rebuke them for daring to question God. Please don’t they are already in pain they don’t need your rebuke.

As we look back at Lamentations the prophet Jeremiah likens this to a widow whose lost her husband and who has lost the hope needed to make it through another day. This is a haunting picture taken during the great depression titled “Migrant Mother” and it symbolized the depth of loss and the strain of worry that was felt by the nation and even the world during that time. It was the first picture that jumped into my head when I thought about Jeremiah looking out over the once great Jerusalem and despairing over its destruction. His words describe this despair. Read Lamentations 1:12-14

The story behind this picture also mirrors Jeremiahs words as she was a widow who had lost the father of her 6 children in 1931 and had to pick cotton and other crops in California from sun up to sun down every day just to survive. The look on her face shows the hardness of her life and the depths of sorrow she feels in being alone, living without, and struggling to make it day by day. I can only imagine that if she was also a Christian, which after reading a bit of her story I doubt that she was, but if she was a Christian it would be in times like this that she would have questioned God just like Jeremiah did here in these verses. Jeremiah blamed God for allowing the infliction, blamed God for His anger, he blamed God for the destruction wrought on the city, Jeremiah even blamed God for making the prophets strength fail. Was Jeremiah losing his faith? Was he wrong to question God in these things?

No, Jeremiah hasn’t done anything wrong because his questions serve to point him back to the real problems. Read Lam. 1:18-22. You see what Jeremiah's questioning did was turn his thoughts towards the promises of God and Jeremiah did this by going to God in prayer. Jeremiah recognized that it wasn’t God that caused all this but the sin of himself and the people of Israel. Jeremiah realized that what they needed was to return to God who was their only source of hope. Because God and only God can defeat our enemies and bring us hope even in the midst of grief.

Let your questions for God this be a turning point for you and allow the hurt, pain, and grief to bring you to your knees. This is why I have this symbol for you on the slide the U-turn symbol. We are going to get to all of them eventually but this U turn is here to point you and I to our need to turn. Grief. pain, troubles and sin can takes us down some really awful paths but they don’t have to. You can turn toward God instead of away from Him. For the believer we need to learn what it means to turn away from our desires and turn toward a life that is reliant on God. However, in these kind of hard times for the unbeliever these hardships are there to point you to a better way. Pain and suffering aren’t caused by God they are however used by God to show you that He can provide a better way. This is what makes all the difference, you will still have pain and suffering but in Christ we have a promise that He will come alongside us and give us comfort and hope. He provides us this through the work of Jesus in His life death and resurrection from the grave.

Gospel

Jesus died for our sins and because He did we can place our belief in that sacrifice. 1 John 1:9 says, “we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We have the promise of God that if we ask for forgiveness and believe in the saving power of Jesus we will be saved. And from the saving power of Jesus, we become new creations. 2 Cor. 5:17 states, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” This means that as Christians we get a fresh start we aren’t who we used to be and we have the power of God behind us to change who we are becoming. Glory to God in the highest for He has saved my soul and He can save yours to if you will let Him. If you aren’t sure then you can confess Him as your savior. If that is your desire today you can say this prayer with me. Bow your heads.

Dear Lord,

I know that I’m a sinner. I’m sorry for my sin, and I ask you to forgive me. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I repent of my sins and I ask you to come into my life and take control. I make a commitment to follow you, and I trust you as my Lord and Savior.

Friend if you prayed that prayer today I ask that you come and speak to me after the service.

Benediction: Kings Treasure