Tag: Lamentations

Lamentations: When Words Fail

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

Daily Bible Readings

Lamentations 4-5

Psalm 136

Luke 19

Today’s Devotion by Jake Ballard (IN)

Once, a young boy watched helplessly as his world fell apart around him. For a year, he watched as his vibrant, loving, passionate mother succumbed to the power of cancer and chemotherapy. Three days after Christmas, she breathed her last. His heartbroken father grieved; his beloved aunts and uncles and grandparents supported as best they could. 

But in the next month, January, his grandmother (his mom’s mom) who had been suffering a disease that destroyed her muscles, finally had all her muscles completely fail, and she too died.

Then the boy’s father left to play basketball in February…

He walked out the door… and never was able to come home…

And the boy

had no

words

How could he?

His world had shattered so agonizingly slowly, and just when the reality had hit home, a new wave of despair…

How could his dad be gone?

Lamentations has a structure in chapters 1-4. Each chapter is a self-contained acrostic, and chapter 3 is an interesting play on that.

Chapter 5 is what happens when devastation and despair overwhelm to the point where words fail.

The pattern breaks.

There is no acrostic.

The only order in the midst of the grief of the Lamenter breaks down.

Words begin to fail.

Often in songs of Lament, there is the turn-around, the recognition of God’s loving, providing care that the Lamenter feels and sees. We’ve seen the hope of that in chapter 3. The final couplet (5:21-22), demands, asks, begs for God’s intervention, but also voices the horror “unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry beyond measure.”

The Lamenter has not left the lamentation by the end of the book.

I want you to know that God doesn’t demand a bright and happy smile as you come into the end of this year.

The holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year) can be especially difficult if you have lost people in the previous year, and you might still be grieving. There are times when all words are broken and the order of our lives is stripped away and we simply are, merely exist…

God is there.

Listening to you yell and rage and cry and weep.

And he loves you through it all.

He will make all things new… but we might not see it now.

The boy who lost so much did not see a clear “end” to his lament, nor did he piece his life together on his own.

He was lovingly, carefully, powerfully held by God, embraced by the church, trained by faithful men and women, and grew up to be a pastor, hoping to share with those who read his words this day that hope exists on the other side. Even when you cannot see it, God is with you in the lament.

Have your words failed? God hears the Spirit in you groan with something deeper than words

Have you not seen restoration yet? One day it will come.

My brothers and sisters, may you express your heart to the Lord in your lament, in whatever way your heart is broken.

May you feel his touch upon your life even when everything has lost all sense.

And if, when, your words fail, may you trust that God is there, listening to the beating of your broken heart, and loving you in your lament.

May he restore you, in this life or in the age to come, because his wrath was taken by Christ on the cross.

Amen.

Reflection Questions

  1. In the midst of your dark days what has given you comfort and hope for the future?
  2. How can you work as God’s agent in spreading comfort and hope, perhaps even at a time when there are no words.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father – Thank You for being the God of all comfort, even when we are in such distress that we can not fathom being comforted. I need you, God. Teach my heart how to cling to You, in all ways and on all days. Thank You for making things new. In Your Son’s name who gives us hope, amen.

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Lamentations: Despair and Hope

A sunset scene with birds flying in the sky, alongside text that reads, 'Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.' Lamentations 3:40 NIV.

Daily Bible Reading

Lamentations 3

Psalm 136

Luke 18

Today’s Devotion by Jake Ballard (IN)

Yesterday, we focused on getting ourselves situated in Lamentations, a book of sorrow that shows us how to speak to God in our anger, sorrow, and loss.

Today, we see that when we take the time to open up to God and work through our suffering we can see it from various angles. In chapter one, the author (probably Jeremiah) gives Jerusalem herself a voice so that she speaks to God. She cries out to God in the midst of the judgement that she is suffering (1:15) and asks him to forgive her and vindicate her (1:20-22). Chapter two continues in much of the same way. The anger of God covers Jerusalem and that is why she is being destroyed (2:1). The people have sought false prophets and false visions (2:14). The people recognize that they have turned away from God, but they ask the Lord to look and see their distress (2:20). Essentially they recognize they deserve what they are receiving, and still ask the good God they know for mercy.

In chapter three, it isn’t about the pain of the city, or the voice of Jerusalem. The author begins to write from the first person perspective: I, me, and my. “I have seen affliction” (3:1) and “God turns his hand against me” (3:3). More than ever before, we could wear the shoes of the author and walk in them. We can understand the pain when we read about it in the first person. Maybe we have felt that the chains of our life are heavy (3:7-9) or that God has gone to war against our bodies (3:4-6). We have felt like we are being hunted down by wild animals, or that we are the wild animal fleeing a hunter (3:10-15). For Jeremiah, this was being attacked by armies, but for us anxieties, depression, gossip, relationships breaking; they feel like we are being hunted down and destroyed. That is why Lamentations 2:11a can hit so close to home “My eyes fail because of tears, My spirit is greatly troubled; My heart is poured out on the earth …” We suffer a different situation than Jeremiah, but the despair of the heart is the same.

Which is why portions of chapter three are so wonderful. After all this despair, all this heart break, some deserved, so much senseless, the author can remind us that the love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never end, they are new every morning. In the midst of suffering, reading about terror and destruction, it is good to be reminded that “Great is your faithfulness” (3:22-23). The Lord is good (3:25) and we will not be cast away from his goodness forever (3:31).

Let me give you some bad news. You and everyone you know will, at some point, suffer.

Let me give you some good news. You and everyone you know is able to rest in the strength and power of God. You are able to give him your suffering, even when if feels like too much, and he is willing and able to hold it.

If you are not currently suffering, chances are you know someone who is. Give them grace, and remind them that God loves them. Do this gently, finding the right moment. Allow God to control your words and the timing. Allow them to feel the goodness of the Lord and to feel his mercies that are new every morning.

If you are currently suffering, let me be the first to remind you that God has not abandoned you forever. As Lamentations 3:31-32 says “For the Lord will not reject forever, for if He causes grief, then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness.” [NASB] For those who place their hope in Jesus Christ, the suffering of this life is swallowed up forever in eternal joy and life and peace.

For all of us, let me ask you a difficult question: what sins do you need to repent of and renounce? The author of Lamentations believed, deeply, that it was the sin of Jerusalem and Judah that led to God’s judgement, sins that were greater than Sodom. (4:6). I say this next sentence with sorrow and fear: If you are living in a way that is against the life of God, you might be causing your own suffering and are living without hope. Not every suffering we experience is judgement from God. Yet Lamentations shows that some suffering is. I ask you to consider your ways, to repent, and to turn back to God so that his blessings may be on your life.

Reflection Questions

  1. As Jake asked, “What sins do you need to repent of and renounce?” What are even natural consequences of these sins?
  2. What is your current “suffering level”? Are you at a place where you feel you need to hear these words right now, or is there someone you need to share these words with?
  3. Having the proper mindset before a suffering phase begins is also helpful. What are words of wisdom that you can build into your mindset (and into your children) when the sun is shining?

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father – You are a good God. And all Your ways are just and right. Thank You for giving us Your Son to show us how to live, and also to offer us the only way to live with You through forgiveness of our sins. Thank You for being with me on sunny days and dark days. May I learn from Your discipline and draw closer to You. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.

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Return to the Lord

Lamentations 3:37 – 5:22

Lamentations 3 40 NIV sgl

The second half of the book of Lamentations is even more depressing than the first half.  Jeremiah was overwhelmed with grief because he had seen horrible things.  Here are two vivid examples.  Lamentations 4:4 says, “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.”  And Lamentations 4:10 says, “With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food when my people were destroyed.”

 

These are disturbing images.  But Jeremiah reminds us why these troubles came on “God’s people”.  Lamentations 3:39-40 says, “Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?  Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.”

 

I’ve heard a quote that goes something like this, “You should learn from other’s mistakes, because you can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”  In this case, we should learn from Judah’s mistakes so we can live long enough to make other mistakes.

 

The Bible tells us repeatedly that we have a choice.  We can follow God and receive a blessing, or fight against God and receive a curse.  I love the way Moses put it in Deuteronomy 30:15-16, “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.”

 

When we read passages like those in Lamentations, we need to think about why they were included in scripture, and how they may apply to us today.  I think one reason these are there is to serve as a warning to those who follow – and in our case, for us.

 

God isn’t a vengeful God, just waiting for people to step out of line so he can slap them; He’s a loving God who wants a relationship with each of us.  But God can’t leave the guilty unpunished.

 

Ezekiel 33:11 says, “Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’”

 

God warned his people, Israel, repeatedly to return to Him, but they ignored Him and paid the price.  He warns us today through His word – the Bible.  How will you respond?

 

Steve Mattison

 

Today’s Bible reading passage can be read or listened to here – Lamentations 3:37-5:22

Tomorrow we begin the book of Ezekiel (chapters 1-4) as we continue on our 2020 Chronological Bible Reading Plan

Good Grief before God

Lamentations 1:1 – 3:36

Lamentations 3 32 NIV sgl

The word lamentation is defined as “the passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weeping.”  The book of Lamentations is appropriately named.  Jeremiah has witnessed profound calamity, and is overwhelmed with grief, which he is pouring out to God in the book of Lamentations.

 

Jeremiah is called “the weeping prophet” for good reason. Here are a few examples of verses that portray his grief…

1:16, “This is why I weep and my eyes overflow with tears.  No one is near to comfort me, no one to restore my spirit.”

2:11, “My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed.

3:19-20, “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.  I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

 

Jeremiah is honest with his feelings, telling God how he feels – and he doesn’t mince words.

(I might mention here that I think this is an important part of the grieving process, not just for Jeremiah, but for us too.)

 

But even in the middle of his grieving, Jeremiah looked to God for comfort, too.  We see this in Lamentations 3:22-32…

22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;

26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

…

31 For no one is cast off by the Lord forever.

32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.

 

I think Jeremiah gives us a good example to use when working through mourning and grief.  Honestly tell God how you’re feeling.  He already knows, so it’s not for His benefit.  Verbalizing our grief,  as well as literally crying out to God, actually helps us process our grief, and can help us work through it.

 

But even when overwhelmed with grief, it is also important to remember that God is compassionate and loving.  He will see us through.  Sometimes, it may feel like it’s hard to get through each new day, but the truth remains…

 

“Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love.”

 

Despite this truth, we need to remember that the ultimate comfort will be in God’s kingdom, as we’re told in Revelation 21:3-4, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.’  He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”


–Steve Mattison
Today’s Bible passage can be read or listened to here – Lamentations 1:1-3:36
Tomorrow we will read the rest of Lamentations – 3:37-5:22 – as we continue on our 2020 Chronological Bible Reading Plan

 

Even in the Midst of the Heartbreak

Lamentations 4-5

lamentations5_21

Saturday, March 18

Jeremiah is recounting a lot of the rough times that Judah had faced. At the end of this desperate passage (in chapter 5), Jeremiah asks God to restore the people of Judah. I love, though, that even in the midst of the heartbreak, he doesn’t forget to praise and adore God:
 
19 But Lord, you remain the same forever!
    Your throne continues from generation to generation.

Then Jeremiah is raw and honest with God again about his frustration:
20 Why do you continue to forget us?
    Why have you abandoned us for so long?
But he is still hopeful and believing in God and his promises:

21 Restore us, O Lord, and bring us back to you again!    Give us back the joys we once had!
Jeremiah included praise and petition in an honest prayer to God. I know that sometimes I feel silly being “honest” with God, letting Him know what I am really thinking… but he is GOD, and He already knows all my thoughts and feelings! We can with confidence humbly pray to our Lord and offer our requests and concerns, making sure to give thanks and praise to Him. There are a lot of good books to read on prayer. (My most recent favorite is “Fervent” by Priscilla Shirer.) I encourage you to read up… and of course, pray up! That is my personal challenge for myself and for you! Will you join me?! Here are a few verses on which to meditate as you focus on seeking God today:
Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Philippians 4:6-7 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
-Rachel Cain
(Photo Credit: http://www.verseoftheday.com/en/09212015/)

Some Hope for Your Hopelessness

Lamentations 2-3

lamentations 3

Friday, March 17

 

Lamentations 2 is recounting God’s anger, and in chapter 3 Jeremiah seems to be complaining that God is not listening to him. However, in spite of complaining, he does acknowledge that God gave the people grace in not dishing out as harsh a punishment as they deserved.

 

Despite the melancholy nature of the book, this portion of Jeremiah contains one of my favorite passages in all of scripture (ch. 3, v. 21-24):

 

“Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”

This verse is displayed in our living room, scripted on a photo that we captured of a radiant sunset over Alaska’s Kenai Fjord during our honeymoon. I appreciate the daily visual reminder that God is always faithful, and that each day is a new start complete with His fresh mercies!

 

With all that Jeremiah was facing, I am encouraged that he still dared to hope. Have you ever dared to hope? Right now I am facing a difficult situation with an ailing loved one. For many months, I’ve experienced an exhausting cycle – hopelessness followed by a rush of hope (that has instead usually turned out to be a false alarm), followed by hopelessness, and then another chance to hope. And just when I tell myself that I am not going to hope again, I am presented with another opportunity to hope that I just cannot deny because life without hope, is, well, hopeless. Sometimes hope is all that keeps us going. Hope helps us cope with the difficulties in life. So will you “dare to hope”?

 

Ultimately, our hope as believers is in Jesus Christ and our future in the Kingdom with God. The meaning of my daughter’s name inspires my soul every time I think of it. Her first name is Maranatha, which means, “Come, Lord Jesus” (but most people know her as Mara), and her middle name is “Hope”, which we chose because the coming of Jesus our Lord is our hope as believers. Jesus knows that we will have trouble in this world, but he reminds us to “take heart! I have overcome the world!” Now THAT is something worth our hope!

 

Pray about what it is that God may be calling you to “hope” for. (Think about the injustices that came to your mind during yesterday’s devotion and how you hope the situation could be different). What actions do you need to take to allow yourself to hope? How can hope drive you to make a difference?

 

-Rachel Cain

 

(Photo Credit: https://dailyverses.net/lamentations/3/22-23)

Grieving the Heart of God

Lamentations 1

lamentations 1

Thursday, March 16

 

The book of Lamentations does not make it onto most people’s “Top Bible Books to Read” list. Its title actually comes from the word “lament”, which means “to mourn (a person’s loss or death)” as a verb, and “a passionate expression of grief or sorrow” as a noun. This book is a compilation of Jeremiah’s laments about the destruction of Jerusalem and all the events leading up to it. He emphasizes that all this calamity is a result of Judah’s disobedience.

 

Jeremiah definitely had a good excuse for some serious lamenting. Sometimes we wallow in self-pity parties about silly little things like how the brand-new Chick-fil-A in our town doesn’t have a play place (true story, and very sad for this momma!), but when is the last time we offered up lamentations to grieve about and lament over an injustice in the world?

 

I live in Ohio, near the crossing of two major highways: Interstate 75, which travels from the Canadian border in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to deep into Florida, and Interstate 70, which spans the great distance from Utah to Maryland. Because of this intersection, the Dayton area is a major hub for drugs and sex trafficking; in fact, Dayton recently made national news for its record-breaking number of fatal opioid overdoses (which included at least one person I knew personally). When I think of how many lives are ruined or stolen by drug addiction and sex trafficking, I feel angry and mournful. It is cause for lament.

 

There are so many other injustices in the world: babies being murdered in utero every day; murder, violence, abuse, racism, discrimination; the growing porn industry; a failing mental health system; families being ripped apart … I’m sure you could add dozens to my list that are worth lamenting!

 

However, it is not enough to just sit on our bums and lament. God wants us to be active in His work in this world. What happenings today do you think grieve the heart of God? Pray with me that God would instill a sense of unrest in our hearts that drives us to fight against the injustices in the world, and to give us opportunities to help lead people toward freedom and hope in Jesus! While Jeremiah had much reason to lament, he was also a man of action (as we will see again in a few chapters), and we need to be people of action too!

-Rachel Cain

 

(Photo Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8GDFPdaQZQ – this link will take you to the Bible Project – with a video of hand drawings and explanations for every book of the Bible – pretty interesting stuff!)