Lamenting Over Lamentations
I just finished reading the book of Lamentations. I know it only has 5 chapters which is quite shorter compared to the rest of the books in the Old Testament. I’ve been to this book before but this is the first time that I was able to finish it as part of my long-existing and often-interrupted goal to finish reading the Bible beginning in 2016. Anyhow, I thank the Lord for allowing me to reach this far in my personal devotion.
I thought I’ve known Jeremiah after reading the book after His name. And so thought that was enough to explain why he was called the ‘weeping prophet’. But I guess I was wrong, it doesn’t just end there. His weeping continued in the book of Lamentations. Man, that must be tiring! It is!
The story of Jerusalem being captured and destroyed by Babylon just went on for a very long time. The Israelites kept sinning against God, continued to disobey Him, asked help from their enemies that they thought to be their friends, and became more confident to their king and rulers rather than the Almighty One. Hence, the weeping of Jeremiah just never ends.
There are so many things that I have learned from Lamentations and I just hope to summarize everything in a few words.
-Disobedience to God guarantees punishment. As for Jerusalem, she lost protection from the enemies, leadership of its people, guidance from God, and even vision of the prophets ( from LASB KJV Study Bible). The last one bothered me greatly. I mean, that is a great deal. Imagine losing that special kind of communication with God. Truly heart breaking.
-Babylon in the picture was God’s greatest instrument to show His blazing judgment towards the wayward people. Oh wait, let’s not forget that everyone in the nation was totally affected - the good and the bad ones alike. People are murdered, enslaved, died of hunger, etc. Shedding the blood of the innocent ones for the sins they didn’t commit isn’t fair at all. But that’s how painful God’s punishment is and there is no escaping from that. That’s why sins, however big or little, should be taken seriously because judgment comes in one-size-fits-all.
-Jerusalem was in great suffering that no words can describe which why Jeremiah’s weeping totally makes lots of sense. It was even mention in Chapter 4 that the situation was worse than in Sodom and Gomorrah. Jeremiah was no’t a cry baby. No, he’s not weak. Imagine being there with him and witnessing all the gore, all the macabre series of people’s unimaginable fate. One just cannot hold back his tears. The prophet’s tears tell us another scenario in a Christian’s life --Jeremiah was not sorrowful over his own sin. Of course he wasn’t prefect but that specific setting was actually about him lamenting over his fellows’ sin and over their disastrous (although already foresighted) experience. He definitely mourned for more than one reason since he was also experiencing physical pain during Babylonian’s annihilation. In His first book, there were lots of verses that contained deprecation dedicated to those who persecuted him, but as the chapters continue, He was that weeping prophet because he surely knows that after the earthly sufferings of the wicked ones, there also awaits one greater in eternity. Definitely worth crying for.
Forgive me for leaving other important realizations. I guess I’ll just have to continue admiring Jeremiah. I felt power in his compassion like no other. This incomparable compassion towards unbelievers, the ones who persecuted him, even the ones he personally knew such as his family. I cannot imagine how he was taking all the sadness with what his eyes and his heart were bearing. But he was helplessly hopeful, if you know what I mean. It is the grief in the midst of the affliction that reminds us to seek God all the more. And so, lamenting is a wonderful thing after all. When everything is so heartbreaking, I believe it is okay to cry. It’s another channel to get to God, a beacon that signals a humble urgency to be rescued by Him.
If I were in the same place as Jeremiah, I would definitely mourn with him with what we were witnessing. Jerusalem dealt with lots of suffering and God was satisfied in his own righteous act. But He didn’t abandon His people, in fact, He was waiting for them to walk away from their wickedness and toward His rescue.
The joy of our heart has ceased; Our dance has turned into mourning. The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! Because of this our heart is faint; Because of these things our eyes grow dim. (Lamentations 5: 15-17 KJV)
Joy will certainly turn into mourning if we keep disobeying God. Otherwise, hope is all the same offered by the same great God. How amazing that is!
My soul hath them still in remembrance, And is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, Therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, Because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: Great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; Therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, To the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly Wait for the salvation of the LORD. (Lamentations 3: 20-26 KJV)
For the Lord will not cast off for ever: But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. (Lamentations 3: 31-32 KJV)
The Israelites clearly represents people to this very day. Some have already been suffering the sins they have once, twice, or have continually sown before, while others are on their way to their own kind of destruction.
May the Lord have mercy on us. How I pray for my friends, colleagues, family, and acquaintance to be shown God’s mercy. May they see how sinful they are, may their eyes behold God as their only hope, and may they come forth in repentance. May the word of God reach them while judgment is yet to come.