When I was a kid I took several art classes but on one occasion I had the assignment to sketch with charcoal a basket with fruit in it. Every time I would sketch it, I would lean in and meticulously draw each and every detail that I saw, except at the end my drawings would always be skewed and disproportionate. So the instructor told me to try again, but every few moments lift my head and step back and look at the whole drawing, and take in the big picture. My problem was that I was not looking at the whole picture; I was only focusing on one section at the time.
This is why Lamentations was written. Every now and then we need to step back from life and look at all of life – remembering the past successes and defeats, and planning toward the future. If we only focus on here and now – this day, this moment then our view of life gets skewed and disproportionate. If we don’t remember life’s lessons, we repeat them again and again.
Review
Lamentations is a series of 5 poems written during the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and was read at the subsequent annual memorial of this event. The poem was written to give a voice to their suffering as it was happening, and as it was read during the years after, it would remind them of what their lives were like, as a people, when they had turned from God.
Lamentations 5
“5:1 Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace! 2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. 3 We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows. 4 We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought. 5 Our pursuers are at our necks; we are weary; we are given no rest. 6 We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, to get bread enough. 7 Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities. 8 Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us from their hand. 9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness. 10 Our skin is hot as an oven with the burning heat of famine. 11 Women are raped in Zion, young women in the towns of Judah. 12 Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders. 13 Young men are compelled to grind at the mill, and boys stagger under loads of wood. 14 The old men have left the city gate, the young men their music. 15 The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning. 16 The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned! 17 For this our heart has become sick, for these things our eyes have grown dim, 18 for Mount Zion which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it. 19 But you, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations. 20 Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days? 21 Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old—22 unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us. (ESV)”
1. Question – Why?
Chapter 5 is a list of how bad things have become for God’s people. Instead of breaking down each one of the consequences of the people’s sin, we can readily see that this was a horrific time in their lives right now. They are in disgrace, they have become slaves, and that what was once theirs by birthright now has to be paid for.
Those who they turned to for help (instead of God) are now abusing them. They can’t rest because they are working all the time. There is constant danger where they live, and any signs of joy are gone. They are having to deal with the sins their fathers have done, and on top of that they add their own.
It’s important to understand from Lamentations that there are consequences from our rebellion and sin against God. The longer we rebel the more sever the consequences.
It is a prayer of the author to God, where he asks the question, why? Chapter 1 of Lamentation begins by asking “how?” – it was a word shouted at funerals, as if to mean, “how did this happen?” – so in chapter one the author cries out as if at a funeral, “how did this happen to God’s people?”
There is a recognition that is because of God’s people’s rebellion against God and for their own sin. Again in verse 16 if chapter 5 there is an admittance of their sin, “The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!”
But the questions changes from “how” to “why.” In God’s sovereignty he has brought judgment upon His people – all of the horrific items described were brought upon the people by God – this answers the “how” question. So now the author cries out, “why?”
To answer this we have to look at how they were living. We know their lives are miserable now, but had it always been that way? They were worshipping other gods, even sacrificing their children to these gods. They looked to other nations (Assyria and Egypt) for help instead of God.
The nation had corrupted the worship of God and even sacrificed to other gods in the temple. They had rejected the prophets, so that they were God’s people in name only. God’s people were doing what they thought best in their own eyes.
So, didn’t the people have a choice if they wanted to follow God or not? If they wanted to do their own thing – so what?
(A) The Christian’s Mission
Every moment that they were living for themselves they were dishonoring God, hurting themselves, and not sharing God’s plan with others. Genesis 12:2 “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”
Does it really matter how we live if claim to be a follower of Christ? Lamentations serves as a reminder to the people and it was read every year to remind the people that this is what happens to those who turn from the Lord. Yes, how we live out our lives before God and men is very important. Sadly, it is only pain and suffering that often gets our attention. There are a lot of people out there that when we begin to share Christ with them, they point to some an obnoxious person or church that hurt them in some way.
(B) The Christian’s Relationship With God
Every moment that we do what we think is best in our own eyes, and turn from God and His ways, we dishonor Him, we hurt ourselves (sin has negative consequences) and we are not sharing God’s plan with others. Jesus says, John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
So is God some powerful being who says, “if you don’t worship me, I will destroy you!” – well we do see again and again in Scripture that God is jealous. Exodus 20:4-6 (the ten commandments) “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.” He is jealous for our love because of His love for us.
When a husband is jealous because his wife is showing another man attention that should be his – is that a wrong? If a child is jealous for a mother’s love when she shows more attention to other things instead of her child – is that wrong? When the Creator and sustainer of the universe, the God above all, and Holy One desires our attention and loving of Him – is that wrong? He loves us and desires a relationship with His creation.
Above all of this however, is the fact that only God is worthy to be praised. All other worship of other things is taking from His deserved glory.
(C) The Christian’s Well-Being
But other than our relationship with God, there is also how we relate to ourselves. God’s discipline allows us to be rid of things that are destructive. It is a painful process to get us to recognize that our sin is harmful – but we have to see it and admit this in our repenting of it or we won’t change.
So “why” are God’s people going through this horrific time in Lamentations? (1) God is a jealous God how demands holiness and fidelity in His children, (2) For their own sake, sin is destructive and out of love he disciplines us (3) So that we can actually carry out what He has called us to do in this life and not waste all of our time seeking after things that are worthless and destructive.
2. Question – Is There Hope For Me?
The book of Lamentations ends on a down note, and with another question, “21 Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old—22 unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us.”
In his prayer he asks for restoration and renewal. This was God’s only chosen people who were given a very special plan (to share God with all the nations) and it was through them that the Savior of the world would come. To be restored would be for their lives to get back onto this track, and for them to be renewed would be the resources, energy, and excitement to go about this mission once again.
In the ancient times every now and then a shepherd would have a lamb that tended to wander off. The danger was that not only could the wandering lamb be hurt, but the other lambs that may follow him as he wandered. So eventually the shepherd would break one of the lamb’s legs, wrap it, and then place the lamb on his shoulders and carry it around until the leg healed. When the lamb’s leg would eventually heal and it would stay close to the shepherd.
The author is not sure if things are finished. “Lord my life is a mess right now, and it is because of my sin. Will you make me useful to You again, unless I am just through?” So once we have sinned, and have brought consequences upon our lives and lives of others – is God finished with us?”
For Jeremiah and God’s people during the time when Lamentations was written, they don’t know because the rest of the Bible had not been written yet. God was exceedingly angry with them, but “His mercy endures forever, and his grace is renewed day-by-day.” Lamentations 3.
I came across this illustration some time ago, but do not remember it’s source. “One night at dinner a man, who had spent many summers in Maine, fascinated his companions by telling of his experiences in a little town named Flagstaff. The town was to be flooded, as part of a large lake for which a dam was being built. In the months before it was to be flooded, all improvements and repairs in the whole town were stopped. What was the use of painting a house if it were to be covered with water in six months? Why repair anything when the whole village was to be wiped out? So, week by week, the whole town became more and more bedraggled, more gone to seed, more woebegone. Then he added by way of explanation: “Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present.”
The Bible tells us again and again, that we have not traveled so far away from God, that He can not bring us back home. Even now if you are uncertain of the next step in your life, know that your loving Creator can turn whatever you have turned your life into away from Him into something beautiful. Have faith in your future (based on God’s promises), it will give you strength for today.
This is part three of a three part series.
Lamentations – Part One “When It Finally Catches Up With You”
Lamentations – Part Two “Consumed By Loss of a Relationship”
