Lamentations - On Going Pain, and Hope

Do you pray and the pain does not go away?

Do you pray and the situation does not change?

Do you pray and though the situation does change, things are not better?

What do you do?

Where do you turn?

On-going pain.

On-going suffering.

That is where the people of Jerusalem were. That is what they were facing.

Jeremiah had done his job as a prophet, warning them, and pleading with them to repent.

Then in Lamentations he is teaching them to Lament: to turn to God calling on him, voicing their complaints about their situation, asking boldly for the Lord to act, and now they are going to need to do the final part of Lament: Choose to trust.

Lament: Choosing to Trust God

That is the main point for today: The final part of a Lament is choosing to trust God.

Lament:

Turn (to God)

Complain (not accuse)

Ask (God to act)

Trust (God, the truth of his character and actions, as found in his self-disclosure and track record)

As we go into this chapter, I want to look at some of the grammatical constructions significant to this book by Jeremiah.

We already considered this first point when we began our study through Lamentations.

Chiasm

Chiasm, which places the emphasis on the point found in the climax.

1 - Jersusalem’s destruction

2 - God’s actions

3 - Jeremiah’s response

4 - The Lord’s anger

5 - Remnant’s response

This places the focal point on Lamentations 3, which is significant to what we are going to look at today.

Lamentations 3:21–24 NIV

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

Acrostics

Chapters 1-4 are acrostics, using the letters of the Hebrew alphabet as the first letter of the stanzas of the chapters.

Chapters 1-3 have 3 lines per stanza

Chapter 3, each line of the stanzas begin with the letter of the alphabet for that stanza

Chapter 4 has 2 lines per stanza

Chapter 5 has 22 stanzas, but not the acrostic of using the letters of the alphabet for the first word of the stanzas.

This does a couple things.

It leads to the heightening of the emotion with chapter 3 as the climax, and chapter 4 beginning the decrescendo.

Dealing with Suffering from A-Z

It shows that they are dealing with their suffering completely, from a-z so to speak.

We do not need to make light of the pain, but rather we need to be attentive to what we are experiencing.

And, at the same time, while dealing with it completely, it does not get stuck in just feeling the pain, but finds the climax in the truth that God is with us, and comes to a resolution.

We tend to either take to little time, not learning what we need to learn about ourselves and our God, or we become crippled by the pain, never moving on to wholeness which God desires for us.

Lament is meant to help us deal with it properly, taking the full look at the suffering in the light of truth from a-z, and moving on through that process to resolution, the end of the alphabet so to speak.

Additionally, when going through each chapter from a-z, we find them dealing with both history—what happened, and feelings—what they experienced.

History and Feelings

History is important because it helps us to remember that our suffering has a beginning and an end in the stream of life.

Failure to recognize History can make us think of our suffering as the ever-living present, which leads to depression, a host of other issues in our lives. It keeps us stuck in what is truly the past.

Feelings are important to recognize, because we need to evaluate them to see what is true. When we do not examine our feelings, we will tend to see those feelings as truth, when they may be the products of our deceitful hearts.

Lamentations

“Instead of sporting techniques, answers, slogans, Lamentations supplies: (1) orientation, (2) a voice for working completely through grief (from a to z), (3) instruction on how and what to pray, and (4) a focal point in God’s faithfulness and in the fact that He is our portion.”

Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Grief and Pain in the Plan of God: Christian Assurance and the Message of Lamentations (Fearn, UK: Christian Focus Publications, 2004), 38–39.

Keeping that in mind. Let’s look at how Jeremiah closes out the final lament in Lamentations 5, as the people are still facing on-going suffering, but they are working through the pain to a conclusion.

As we work through this, look for the parts of a lament: Turn, Complain (which often leads to recognition of truth), Ask, Trust.

Lamentations 5 NIV

Remember, Lord, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace. Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. We have become fatherless, our mothers are widows. We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price. Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are weary and find no rest. We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread. Our ancestors sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment. Slaves rule over us, and there is no one to free us from their hands. We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the desert. Our skin is hot as an oven, feverish from hunger. Women have been violated in Zion, and virgins in the towns of Judah. Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect. Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood. The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped their music. Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning. The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! Because of this our hearts are faint, because of these things our eyes grow dim for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it. You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.

Did you see the parts of Lament?

Lament:

Turn

Complain

Ask

Trust

Turn: Lamentations 5:1

“Remember, Lord, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace.”

Complain: Lamentations 5:2-18, 20

Lamentations 5:20 “Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long?”

Has he forgotten them? Has he forsaken them? We know he has not, but it feels that way, it seems that way when they look at the circumstances.

Recognition of Truth:

Lamentations 5:7 “Our ancestors sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment.”

Lamentations 5:16–17 “The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! Because of this our hearts are faint, because of these things our eyes grow dim”

Now, I want to make it clear that not all suffering is due to sin. In this case it was. But not in every case. In fact, we may take some time to look at that next Sunday. What are the other reasons for suffering and pain in this life according to scripture?

But for today, for this situation, they finally recognize that they are suffering because of sin.

And what is even more important is that:

Lamentations 5:19 “You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.”

God is still on his throne. Even though the past generation did not recognize it. Even though this generation did not recognize it until now, God is on his throne from generation to generation.

How important is that truth when we are suffering?

Why is that important?

Because his is still on his throne, we are not in the control of others alone.

Because he is still on his throne, suffering is not the final word.

Because he is still on his throne, we have hope and a future.

Because he is still on his throne, nothing can separate us from his love.

Because he is still on his throne, he is still near to us.

Isaiah 57:15 NIV

For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Because he is still on his throne, this suffering/this pain will not be the end of us.

Lamentations 3:22–23 NIV

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Because he is still on his throne, there are new mercies each day if we will open our eyes to see them.

Ask: Lamentations 5:1, 21

Lamentations 5:1 “Remember, Lord, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace.”

Lamentations 5:21 “Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old”

Lamentations 5:22 “unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.”

Unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.

Their situation is hopeless. They have ongoing pain and suffering, not even of their own doing. This is the result of their parents’ choices.

They are responding correctly to the Lord and their suffering now. they are no longer relying on themselves, or others. Their trust is not in man. Rather their trust is in the Lord.

They are turning to the only one:

who can heal...

who can sustain...

who can sooth...

who can calm...

who can restore

They are asking the right person, the right requests.

And then what is the final part of Lament?

Trust

They need to trust the Lord.

But interestingly, look again at the trust section of this Lament, found in Lamentations 5:19-22

Lamentations 5:19–22 NIV

You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.

Unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure...

This shows a true humility. They acknowledged their sin, and they know they deserve nothing. They are not demanding God act here and now and remove all of the consequences of their sin.

No. They are humble. They make their request of God for restoration, but they do so humbly. Not demanding.

And, even this statement is a reflection of what God has revealed as the truth.

Leviticus 26:43–45 NIV

For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees. Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the Lord their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’ ”

Psalm 94:12–15 NIV

Blessed is the one you discipline, Lord, the one you teach from your law; you grant them relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked. For the Lord will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance. Judgment will again be founded on righteousness, and all the upright in heart will follow it.

Isaiah 41:8–9 NIV

“But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

What about me?

Lament: a-z?

Keep in mind the History?

Evaluate the feelings?

Am I stuck in the victim mode of suffering? Or am I progressing through recognizing the truth and moving on to wholeness?

Am I asking for God to act?

Do I recognize He is on the throne?

Do I trust who He is, and what he has said?