Lamentations
Notes
Transcript
Happy mother’s day
God uses mothers to help us understand himself.
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
compassion -
sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it
As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
comfort - ease the grief or trouble, give strength and hope (Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary 11th ed)
bad dream in the night - call for mommy
Get hurt - call for mommy
Afraid - call for mommy
bad day - call mommy
Lamentations
Lamentations
Jeremiah had not just a bad day, but a bad life. And no matter how much he prophesied to the people, they would not listen.
They would not listen to the warnings of the coming disaster.
They would not listen to the great message of hope, that God had a future for them, restoration, a new covenant, and a righteous branch of David.
They would not listen, and the Babylonians came as Jeremiah had prophesied.
The city was laid siege, and starvation ensued. The strong men were reduced to skin and bones. The rich were unrecognizable. Mothers ate their children.
It was awful. And then, the city was taken.
The king Zedekiah was forced to watch his sons be executed, and then his eyes were put out.
Zedekiah and the majority of the people were then marched off to exile.
Words find it hard to capture, but that is what Jeremiah did in Lamentations.
Lamentations was written as a series of five funeral dirges.
He used the literary devices of his language and culture to write these as funeral dirges, to express great grief.
But even in the dirges, Jeremiah still saw the hope of the Lord; His compassion and mercy.
This is found in different places throughout the book, but primarily in Lamentations 3.
Just like in his book which used the literary device called chiasm to point to the highlight of the restoration and the new covenant, so too, Lamentations is writtian in a chiastic pattern to emphasis the hope found in Lamentations 3.
1 - Jersusalem’s destruction
2 - God’s actions
3 - Jeremiah’s response
4 - The Lord’s anger
5 - Remnant’s response
I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.
He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light;
indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.
He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.
He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.
He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains.
Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.
Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding,
he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.
He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver.
I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink.
He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.
I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”
When it feels like God is the enemy
When it feels like God is the enemy
Mark Vroegop has observed laments in the bible as having four elements: turn, complain, ask, trust
Turn to the Lord… not be angry with God, but turning to the Lord to talk to him, to speak honestly with him, to begin the process of healing that He alone can give
Complain… again, not being angry with God, but honestly communicating how it feels in the moment
Ask… we will see this element next week
Trust… what is true about the Lord? What have we seen of him in the past? What is the truth about him which he has revealed in scripture?
Often those truths about God are best seen in the midst of the darkness.
Flashlight - bright, but not during the day. At night, we really get to see just how brilliant the light is.
So, too, with the Lord. We can see his greatness, but we won’t really understand how great he is until we see him shining in the darkness. We can sing of his love, but not until we see the darkness of our sin do we see the greatness of his love. We can know the Lord is compassionate, but it isn’t until we are in the depths of hurt and pain that we really see how great his compassion is.
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
A turning to the Lord to remember the truth about him...
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
Compassions never fail...
Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel:
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
his compassions never fail...
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
new every morning. we see his compassion best after the night. Just as the sun is glorious in the morning after the darkness of the night, so his compassions are glorious after the night.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
Where earlier, part of the lament, the grief was the loss of the city, loss of possessions, loss of what they had hoped for, now he realized that the LORD has always been his portion. The LORD is what he needs to hope for in this life. He will wait for him.
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
To those who do not seek the Lord, the Lord is mean and unfair. Like Cain…
But to those who hope in the Lord and seek him, we see that he is the only one who is good.
it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
Zedekiah was urged to bear the yoke of the Babylonians.
I gave the same message to Zedekiah king of Judah. I said, “Bow your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and you will live.
Why will you and your people die by the sword, famine and plague with which the Lord has threatened any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
But Zedekiah did not bear that yoke of discipline, and received an even great discipline.
Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him.
Bear the yoke of discipline, whether it be instructive or corrective.
Let him bury his face in the dust— there may yet be hope.
Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.
For no one is cast off by the Lord forever.
Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.
Bear the yoke of discipline, because the Lord will not cast off forever. After taking us through the discipline to teach us, we will find his compassion dawning in our lives, and bask in the light of his great unfailing love.
For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.
To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land,
to deny people their rights before the Most High,
to deprive them of justice— would not the Lord see such things?
God does not take delight in our hardships, affliction or grief.
But when there is sin, he cannot let things go unpunished.
For the one who were doing these things, the discipline was corrective. For Jeremiah, the discipline was instructive.
Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?
Why should the living complain when punished for their sins?
Yes, God is sovereign. Discipline will be coming because of sin.
Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.
Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say:
“We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.
It is important that we allow hardship and discipline to teach us, to have us examine ourselves and repent and confess when necessary.
What about me?
What about me?
Charles Dyer in the Bible knowledge commentary summarized this well.
1. Affliction should be endured with Hope in God’s Salvation
1. Affliction should be endured with Hope in God’s Salvation
Lamentations 3:25–30 “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust— there may yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.”
2. Affliction is only temporary and is tempered by God’s Compassion and Love
2. Affliction is only temporary and is tempered by God’s Compassion and Love
Lamentations 3:31–32 “For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.”
3. God does not delight in affliction
3. God does not delight in affliction
Lamentations 3:33 “For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.”
4. If affliction comes because of injustice, God sees it and does not approve of it
4. If affliction comes because of injustice, God sees it and does not approve of it
Lamentations 3:34–36 “To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, to deny people their rights before the Most High, to deprive them of justice— would not the Lord see such things?”
- when God sees the injustice, he will punish it.
5. Affliction is always in relationship to God’s sovereignty
5. Affliction is always in relationship to God’s sovereignty
Lamentations 3:37–38 “Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?”
6. Affliction ultimately came because of Judah’s sins
6. Affliction ultimately came because of Judah’s sins
Lamentations 3:39 “Why should the living complain when punished for their sins?”
7. Affliction should accomplish the greater good of turning God’s people back to Him.
7. Affliction should accomplish the greater good of turning God’s people back to Him.
Lamentations 3:40 “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.”
