Day 237 Lam 3:37-5:22

I seriously don’t even know what to write.  So much going through my head after reading that.  I don’t want to sound like Habakkuk but at the same time I am like “Why God?” Why did the punishment have to be so cruel? Mothers ate their babies out of starvation? The punishment affected generations that were not even alive when the temple was standing…why are they dealing with all of this?  Woman were raped, Elders were beat and disrespected.  So hard to read.

Even Jeremiah compares what is happening to the Jews to his own near death awful experience when he was thrown into a cistern (like an open  well that collects water).  He was stuck in the and mire, to eventually drown and die.

And then I realized yesterday in Chapter 2 a verse caught my eye.  I pondered it for a while.

In fierce anger he has cut off
       every horn  of Israel.
       He has withdrawn his right hand
       at the approach of the enemy.

I thought about that word withdrawn for a while.  Like if your child was running towards trouble, you hold them back.  Eventually if they are bratty enough and don’t listen or go kicking and screaming, you withdraw your hand to let them find out for themselves what it is like not to head your warning.  You warned them!

I may be off base but it helped me to get through Lamentations.  Even though in 4:22 it says the punishment will not last forever, it was still hard to read.  Something we need to consider as we take God out of schools, courts, money, homes….He will withdraw his hand. (if he hasn’t already)

Day 236 Lam 1-3:36

Should I just skip to chapter 3?  Chapter 3 was soooo good. Ok, Ok, I won’t.

Jerusalem is spoken about as a woman.  To read this is very sad, the one scripture that really bolded out for me was

Her filthiness clung to her skirts;
       she did not consider her future. (1:9)

The chapter emphasizes that His people brought all of this on themselves.  God truly had not choice.

Skipping to 3: We all have those handful of scriptures that just make you melt! Well I know when you read this chapter you KNEW I was going to comment on it.  And you are right:

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.”

 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. (3:22-26)

Lamentations Overview

Lamentations, Ekha in Hebrew, is a book or wailing and weeping.  Lamentations was written in the time between the fall of Judah and the return of the remnant people after 70 years of captivity,

There are 5 poems in this book, each begin at a new chapter.  Judah is personified as a woman in this book,  but it is important to remember WHY all this is happening to her.  An avoidable tragedy,  all this is, all caused by sin and lack of repenting.  Always read the Bible noting God’s character,His covenant and His Love.  God is Holy, God is Just, God Perfect, and God punishes sin and disobedience in His timing.

In the Bible, Lamentations follows Jeremiah, most likely the author and which gave Jeremiah the name the “weeping prophet”.  You could read the past chapter of Jeremiah as the introduction to Lamentations.  However the Hebrew Old Testament puts Lamentations with a group of books called the Ketubin or “writings”.  The group includes Song of Songs, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, Esther and Lamentations.  They are in their own category  (our Bible is grouped by category too, that is why we are jumping around a lot) because these books are read at separate Feasts.  TO this day, this book is read in Synagogues throughout the world on the ninth day of the fourth month, a day of fasting, to remember the fall of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah’s grief ran deep  in his heart for God’s people.  Jeremiah wept for the Jews not just because of the suffering and the exile they would endure, but becasue they had rejected the word of the Lord.  This saddened Jeremiah to a level of tears and sympathy.

I read once somewhere this question…and it really should make us all think…

What makes a person cry says a lot about that person whether they are self-centered or God-centered.