OLD TESTAMENT: Lamentations 4-5
POETRY: Psalm 119:121-128
NEW TESTAMENT: Revelation 9
We pick up this Friday by finishing off the final 2 chapters of the book of Lamentations—one of the most poetic cries to God in despair, pain, and anguish that is recorded in the Bible. Jeremiah has spent the previous 3 chapters weeping to God about the destruction of both Jerusalem and Judah, and the horrific circumstances it has thrown His people into. Besides the outright attack from the Babylonians, they also suffered siege and famine. Death was inescapable at every turn, from starvation and thirst to even resorting to cannibalism. Amongst all this, Jeremiah has seen it all.
He questions why God had abandoned His people, and why they must suffer. At a certain point he recognizes it is because of the sins of the people of Jerusalem, and that God’s wrath is His own to disperse—that it is by God’s hand justice is determined.
“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?” (3:37-39)
I think about times in my life where it has felt as though I have been left alone—seemingly abandoned. In these moments, my first thought may be to question why God has abandoned me, and why I have to suffer. Why can’t it always be good times? Why would God allow this suffering?
But that thought is unfounded—it forgets the very essence of God’s nature, and does not take on the perspective that Jeremiah takes. God is the one and only rightful judge of this universe. What good would a judge in a court of law be if they let every person who’s done wrong off Scott free?
God is not the source of sin, just as light is not the source of darkness. Rather, where there is no light, there is darkness. Without God and His righteousness, we fall back into sin and into that darkness. Thankfully, because of the sacrifice He sent for us, through the death of Jesus Christ, we can now live under a new covenant of salvation! And because of this gift, we ought to recognize the power and might of our God, as Jeremiah did. In both high and low, fire and ice, joy and pain, we owe everything to God, the creator of both the mountains and the seas.
“You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.” (5:19)
-Mason Kiel
Reflection Questions
- What suffering have you witnessed or endured that perhaps made you question what God was doing or why?
- What sins had Jerusalem and Judah committed? What sins do you see in your society? What sins do you see in your life?
- What do you gain by recognizing God as the just God of the universe?
- Suffering is sometimes brought about by God’s judgment on sin. Are there other explanations for some suffering?
Seek Grow Love 