Finding Order In Chaos

Introduction I

For the next six weeks we will be talking about GRIEVING WITH GOD.

We have placed this series right before thanksgiving and Christmas for a reason. For many of us these are the best times of the year when we celebrate with family and friends.

Some of you favorite people you do not see throughout the year until these holidays come and people are off from work and we travel all over the globe to feast, exchange gifts, fellowship, and to create new memories as we uphold long lasting family traditions.

That is until the people, places, circumstances, that made those traditions valuable and meaningful are for whatever reason taken away from us.

Finding hope and relief through the very human experience we call grief is what the entire book of Lamentations is all about. We will dig into large chunks of this book as we discover God not far from us through our grieving process.

Intro II

The book of Lamentations is a mournful postscript to the book of Jeremiah. Through the use of five funeral laments, the author grieved over the fate of Jerusalem because of her sin.

Not every single solitary person was guilty of the sins of the nation. Romans 5: 12 says that sin entered the world through one man and sin brought death…

Jesus tells the church in Ephesus that if they do not repent and return to their first works he would remove their witness (candlestick) Rev 2:5…

Our sins are all interconnected and we suffer together as a result

Jeremiah preached to the nation but the nation as a whole did not change its ways, unlike Nineveh. And Nebuchadnezzar came with his forces and decimated Jerusalem.

Lamentations mourns the fall of the city but it also offers reproof, instructions and hope to its survivors.

Last week, as pastor Jose took some excerpts of the first chapter we learned that in suffering, we are often looking for meaning. But that search for meaning will have difficulty starting until we voice our full distress. Being heard by God shows us that we are not alone in the midst of our struggle and trial. We also focused on using any and all grounds to appeal to the one with more power than us to do something. And God will.

In this second chapter, the lamenter describes in vivid imagery the destruction and devastation that has fallen upon Jerusalem. God’s people are in a state of chaos.

All of the structures that gave them stability, security, meaning, physically, spiritually, and emotionally lay in ruin.

The temple is destroyed, their sense of national identity is gone, their relationship with God feels fractured. What do you do when your larger systems of life collapse, what can we hold on to? How do we find stability?

The Full Weight of Destruction (vv.1-9)

Lamentations 2:1–9 (LSB)

1 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion With a cloud in His anger! He has cast from heaven to earth The beauty of Israel, And has not remembered the footstool of His feet In the day of His anger.

2 The Lord has swallowed up; He has not spared All the habitations of Jacob. In His wrath He has pulled down The strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down to the ground; He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.

3 In hot anger He has cut in pieces All the strength of Israel; He has turned back His right hand From before the enemy. And He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire Devouring round about.

4 He has bent His bow like an enemy; He has set His right hand like an adversary And killed all that were desirable to the eye; In the tent of the daughter of Zion He has poured out His wrath like fire.

5 The Lord has become like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all its palaces; He has brought its strongholds to ruin And multiplied in the daughter of Judah Mourning and moaning.

6 And He has violently treated His tabernacle like a garden booth; He has brought His appointed meeting place to ruin. Yahweh has caused to be forgotten The appointed time and sabbath in Zion, And He has spurned king and priest In the indignation of His anger.

7 The Lord has rejected His altar; He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has delivered into the hand of the enemy The walls of her palaces. They have made a noise in the house of Yahweh As in the day of an appointed time.

8 Yahweh determined to bring to ruin The wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out a line; He has not turned His hand back from swallowing up, And He has caused rampart and wall to mourn; They have languished together.

9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; The law is no more. Also, her prophets find No vision from Yahweh.

The writer describes totality of the destruction. Everything that once gave them security. Stuff they took for granted feeling like its always been here and it will always be here was gone. The temple, the kinship, the city walls, the sanctuary, the palace, the walls of the city.

When my late wife passed away I would describe that destruction as if God had ripped one of my limbs clean off from my body in one violent excruciating and devastating blow and had rendered the rest of me useless (right arm gone).

Everyone here, if you live long enough will experience that level of devastation. And for so many of us we will experience it more than once. For at some point in your live you will feel like everything that once gave you stability is crumbling . It could be the loss of a job, the destruction of your marriage, or a health crisis.

If this is you, or when this is you, you must acknowledge the reality of your loss

But also you must remember that this is not the end of your story… This is how you start finding order in the midst of chaos

Psalm 34:18 (LSB)

18 Yahweh is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

God is never far when your heart is broken. Acknowledging the pain opens the door for the comfort of God. Watch what Jesus said,

John 16:33 (LSB)

33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

He acknowledges that life will bring heartache and pain, much trouble for those who live in the midst of a fallen world. But hardships are not the end of the story. Despite the destruction we face, we can have hope because Christ as overcome and in Christ we are more than conquerors. Your hardship no matter how intense is not the final word. In fact the psalmist say,

Psalm 42:5 (LSB)

5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Wait for God, for I shall still praise Him, For the salvation of His presence.

While we may feel overwhelmed by loss, God remains the only source of security when everything else falls apart.

Lament, but Keep Moving Forward (vv. 10-17)

Lamentations 2:10–17 (LSB)

10 The elders of the daughter of Zion Sit on the ground; they are silent. They have thrown dust up on their heads; They have girded themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem Have bowed their heads down to the ground.

11 My eyes fail because of tears; My inmost being is greatly disturbed; My heart is poured out on the earth Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, When infants and nursing babies faint In the open squares of the city.

12 They say to their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?” As they faint like a wounded man In the open squares of the city, As their life is poured out On their mothers’ bosom.

13 What shall I testify about you? To what shall I equate you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what shall I liken you as I comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your destruction is as vast as the sea; Who can heal you?

14 Your prophets have beheld for you Worthless and ineffective visions; And they have not uncovered your iniquity So as to return you from captivity, But they have beheld for you worthless and misleading oracles.

15 All who pass along the way Clap their hands in derision at you; They hiss and shake their heads At the daughter of Jerusalem, “Is this the city of which they said, ‘The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth’?”

16 All your enemies Have opened their mouths wide against you; They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up! Surely this is the day for which we have hoped; We have found it, we have seen it.”

17 Yahweh has done what He purposed; He has completed His word Which He commanded from days of old. He has pulled down without sparing, And He has caused the enemy to be glad over you; He has exalted the might of your adversaries.

These verses capture the extent of the grief caused by the destruction. People have no answers. There is a lot of why me? questions that go unanswered.

The leaders are silent, the young women are in mourning, the children are fainting in hunger and there are no visible answers. The systems that gave them life and identity have been torn apart.

Again, we should not shy away from lamenting the things we’ve lost, but we are called to take small steps towards rebuilding.

Even when we don’t know the full plan, trust that God is with us in the grief and is calling us to move forward, however small those steps may be.

Psalm 30:5 (LSB)

5 For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

You must bear in mind that grief and lament are temporary. You must grieve, you must lament with the expectation that eventually, and no one can give you a date for this, but eventually you should be prepared to move forward. For even in the midst of his lament, look at what Jeremiah says,

Lamentations 3:22–23 (LSB)

22 The lovingkindnesses of Yahweh indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

In the middle of the tears and distress Jeremiah expresses confidence in Gods mercy. The apostle Paul would say,

2 Corinthians 4:8–9 (LSB)

8 in every way afflicted, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;

9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

This allows you to take small little steps towards healing. Again Jeremiah in the midst of his lament says,

Lamentations 3:31–33 (LSB)

31 For the Lord will not reject forever,

32 For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness.

33 For He does not afflict from His heart Or grieve the sons of men.

This passage offers hope in the middle of lament. Though we experience grief, God’s compassion will eventually restore us. This gives us confidence to move forward, even if the steps are small.

Cry out to God and Trust Him to Restore (vv.18-22)

Lamentations 2:18–22 (LSB)

18 Their heart cried out to the Lord, “O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let your tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief; Let your eyes not be still.

19 “Arise, cry aloud in the night At the head of the night watches; Pour out your heart like water Before the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to Him For the life of your infants Who are faint because of hunger At the head of every street.”

20 See, O Yahweh, and look! With whom have You dealt thus? Should women eat their offspring, The infants who were born healthy? Should priest and prophet be killed In the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 On the ground in the streets Lie young and old; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered, not sparing.

22 You called as in the day of an appointed time My terrors on every side; And there was no one who escaped or survived In the day of Yahweh’s anger. Those whom I gave birth to and reared, My enemy consumed them.

When Babylon finally did break through Jerusalem’s defenses, its soldiers were angry because Jerusalem had kept them at bay for 30 months. They made no distinction between age and sex; the bloodthirsty Babylonians butchered uncounted thousands.

In the final verses (18-22), the people cry out to God for mercy and restoration. Though they are overwhelmed by destruction, their lament turns to a plea for God's intervention. They recognize that only God can bring healing and restoration to their broken city and broken lives.

They recognized that their agony was from the Lord and their redemption which is God’s ultimate end comes from the Lord

Jeremiah 29:11 (LSB)

11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘plans for peace and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.

Even in the midst of loss, disappointment, destruction. God has plans for restoration. Trusting His long-term plan allows us to cry out to Him while taking small steps to order our lives. This is why the apostle says,

Romans 12:12 (LSB)

12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in affliction, being devoted to prayer,

In other words, we joyful in hope, be patient in affliction, faithful to prayer

Stay faithful in prayer and hope in the midst of affliction. Continually crying out to God and maintaining faith in His goodness helps you move forward.

Psalm 37:23–24 (LSB)

23 The footsteps of a man are established by Yahweh, And He delights in his way.

24 When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, Because Yahweh is the One who sustains his hand.

He is the one guiding you even when you feel uncertain

Even though you cannot see the full picture God will direct and uphold you and direct you as you take steps of faith

Conclusion

Like most of the rest of the book, Lamentations 2 is written as an acrostic. This structure can help in the process of dealing with trauma. “Lamentations 2 lends itself well to bringing an ordered response to moral injury because of its alphabetic, acrostic format. In Hebrew, each successive line begins with the next letter of the alphabet. Moving from aleph to tav, from A to Z, is an act of ordering. The God of Order stands in the background and orders the images of chaos.

Lamentations 2 shows us the reality of overwhelming destruction, yet it also teaches us that even in such moments, small steps toward order and structure are possible. As we acknowledge our loss, lament, and cry out to God, we can trust that He is at work. By taking small steps, we participate in the process of restoration, knowing that God will guide us through.