Lamentations 2: Even when God seems like your enemy, He loves you

Thought of the day: Even when God seems like your enemy, He loves you.

Context: Jerusalem is destroyed. The people of God either murdered, scattered, or captured. Removed from the promises and crushed by God. They have lost their holy name, Israel and have reverted to the status of Jacob. Israel has denied God and wallows in it’s sin. In Lamentations Jeremiah cries over the judgement of God. But who really wrote Lamentations? Was it just Jeremiah or was it the Spirit of God through Jeremiah? And if the Spirit of God then the picture we see is slightly different. Instead of an indifferent God swallowing His people whole we see a God weeping as he defends His holiness and covenant by crushing the ones He loves. Jeremiah was not just the weeping prophet, but the prophet through whom God wept.

Scriptures to highlight:

v1-5

v1 cloud: darkness.

v1 footstool, The place where God rests: has meant the ark of the covenant or the earth; here he’s talking about mt. Zion or Jerusalem.

v2 Jacob: again denying their name

v3 horn: symbol of power and strength

v4 + 5 “Like an enemy” God has judged them so harshly, in the eyes of the writer, he is no longer like a father reprimanding his child but instead like an enemy seeking to completely wipe out.

What was God doing here? He was revealing the seriousness of His word. His covenant, His law, relationship with Him these are not things to be taken lightly they are deadly serious.

v13-15

v14 “the visions of your prophets are worthless” why? “they did not expose your sin.” Jeremiah starts to tell Israel what to do.

17-20

v18 what do we do Jeremiah? Are you just going to stand there and weep? How do we heal from this wound that God has inflicted, which no man can heal?

“cry out to the Lord” “let your tears flow like the river day and night; give yourself no relief” “cry out in the night” “lift your hands up to Him”

Jump into the arms of the God who is crushing you. Don’t run from Him.

Don’t hide because of your sin and your guilt and your shame. He may look like an enemy but He’s not.

You want to know how to weep and morn to the glory of God? Raise your arms to heaven and jump into His arms.

Cry into His chest night and day that He might hear.

This is what Jeremiah told Israel to do because this is what God wanted them to do. This is what God wants you to do.

How do we morn well with those in our community? PRACTICAL! DO THIS! Invite them to cry to God with you.

Perform Lamentations 2 from ESV