Lamentations 4 - Examining Ourselves
Notes
Transcript
Lament -
Turn to the Lord
Complain
Ask
Trust
Ask -
“Arise, O LORD!”
“Grant us help.”
“Remember your covenant.”
“Let justice be done.”
“Don’t remember our sins.”
“Restore us!”
“Don’t be silent—listen to me.”
“Teach me.”
“Vindicate me.”
Imprecatory prayers - Let Justice be done! Based upon what God has said he would do.
Exiles, even in their own land...
What is an exile?
What is life like for an exile?
Lament is the voice of the exile.
Lamentations 4 - Again turning to the Lord, but this time, we get a glimpse into what led to their despair. And as we see what led them to despair, we get a glimpse into what was most important to them. To what they really trusted in. We will see a glimpse into our own hearts, and what we trust in.
As we suffer loss, we often will find where our real treasures have lain. The people of Judah did. Let’s see where their treasures lay before their downfall.
Idols revealed.
How the gold has lost its luster, the fine gold become dull! The sacred gems are scattered at every street corner.
How the precious children of Zion, once worth their weight in gold, are now considered as pots of clay, the work of a potter’s hands!
Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but my people have become heartless like ostriches in the desert.
Because of thirst the infant’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth; the children beg for bread, but no one gives it to them.
Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets. Those brought up in royal purple now lie on ash heaps.
Trusting in Wealth
Trusting in Wealth
Jerusalem was truly a wealthy city, located in the middle of Africa, Asia, and Europe, the major trade routes went through this land.
The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills.
Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful
and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not seek justice. They do not promote the case of the fatherless; they do not defend the just cause of the poor.
Trusting in Wealth
Trusting in Wealth
Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets. Those brought up in royal purple now lie on ash heaps.
The punishment of my people is greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment without a hand turned to help her.
Their princes were brighter than snow and whiter than milk, their bodies more ruddy than rubies, their appearance like lapis lazuli.
But now they are blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.
Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of famine; racked with hunger, they waste away for lack of food from the field.
Trusting in Leaders
Trusting in Leaders
With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food when my people were destroyed.
Trusting in Family
Trusting in Family
The Lord has given full vent to his wrath; he has poured out his fierce anger. He kindled a fire in Zion that consumed her foundations.
The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any of the peoples of the world, that enemies and foes could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
Trusting in Manmade Security
Trusting in Manmade Security
A United Press release in a midwestern city told of a hospital where officials discovered that the fire-fighting equipment had never been connected. For 35 years it had been relied upon for the safety of the patients in case of emergency. But it had never been attached to the city’s water main. The pipe that led from the building extended 4 feet underground—and there it stopped!
The medical staff and the patients had felt complete confidence in the system. They thought that if a blaze broke out, they could depend on a nearby hose to extinguish it. But theirs was a false security. Although the costly equipment with its polished valves and well-placed outlets was adequate for the building, it lacked the most important thing—WATER!
Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (WORDsearch, 2004).
But it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed within her the blood of the righteous.
Now they grope through the streets as if they were blind. They are so defiled with blood that no one dares to touch their garments.
“Go away! You are unclean!” people cry to them. “Away! Away! Don’t touch us!” When they flee and wander about, people among the nations say, “They can stay here no longer.”
The Lord himself has scattered them; he no longer watches over them. The priests are shown no honor, the elders no favor.
Trusting in Religious Leaders
Trusting in Religious Leaders
Ravi
Moreover, our eyes failed, looking in vain for help; from our towers we watched for a nation that could not save us.
People stalked us at every step, so we could not walk in our streets. Our end was near, our days were numbered, for our end had come.
Our pursuers were swifter than eagles in the sky; they chased us over the mountains and lay in wait for us in the desert.
Trusting in Allies
Trusting in Allies
Those we thought we could trust to come to our aid.
The Lord’s anointed, our very life breath, was caught in their traps. We thought that under his shadow we would live among the nations.
Rejoice and be glad, Daughter Edom, you who live in the land of Uz. But to you also the cup will be passed; you will be drunk and stripped naked.
Your punishment will end, Daughter Zion; he will not prolong your exile. But he will punish your sin, Daughter Edom, and expose your wickedness.
What about me?
What about me?
Do I know I am an exile?
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,
who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
What do I trust in other than the Lord?
This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.
When have I suffered loss? What brought me to despair?
This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 5
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
