Familiar words from a prophet who suffered about the Lord and suffering...

This week we are looking at a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Lamentations. The books of Jeremiah and Lamentations were both written by the prophet Jeremiah and are the next letters that were written by a prophet chronologically, which is not necessarily the order that they are found in the Bible, where they are organized by size.

Yesterday we looked at the second chapter of the book of Jeremiah, where the Lord, through Jeremiah, called out the Jewish people for their unfaithfulness to the Him. The Lord proclaimed the reality that, instead of pursuing the Lord, the Jewish people pursued what was meaningless and empty.  While the Lord had brought the Jewish people into a productive land that would provide for their needs, the Jewish people polluted the land with their selfishness and rebellion. Whether it was the people, the priests, the rulers, or the prophets, all the Jewish people pursued false gods instead of pursuing the Lord.

Jeremiah exposed the duplicity of the Jewish people in their selfishness and rebellion against the Lord. You see, while the Jewish people worshiped false gods, the Jewish people began to discover that while they had pursued as many false gods as they had cities, these false gods were unable to help them in their times of trouble.  Yet, in spite of pursing false gods instead of the Lord, the Jewish people felt that they could accuse the Lord for failing to come through for them in their times of trouble. The Jewish people did not respond to the Lord’s punishment for their rebellion by returning to the Lord. Instead the Jewish people accused the Lord and murdered the messengers of the Lord.

And as a messenger of the Lord, the Jewish people responded to Jeremiah by treating Jeremiah horribly. During the 40 years that Jeremiah served as a messenger of the Lord, the Jewish people responded to Jeremiah by beating him, placing him in stocks, and on one occasion, throwing him in an empty cistern to starve to death. During the 40 years that Jeremiah served as a messenger of the Lord, no one from the Jewish people turned to the Lord. Instead, the Jewish people pursued false gods instead of the Lord and punished Jeremiah and the other prophets of his time for proclaiming the message of the Lord.

And it is in this context that the prophet Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations. As the title of the book reveals, in the book of Lamentations we see Jeremiah lament over the destruction of the Jewish people that came as a result of their selfishness and rebellion. The first two chapters focus on the misery of the Jewish people and the destruction of the city of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonian Empire. However, in the third chapter, we see the prophet Jeremiah give us a glimpse into the personal pain and anguish that he experienced as he lamented over the condition of the Jewish people. So let’s look at this section of the book of Lamentations together, beginning in Lamentations 3:1:

I am the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath. ² He has driven me and made me walk In darkness and not in light. ³ Surely against me He has turned His hand Repeatedly all the day. ⁴ He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones. ⁵ He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship. ⁶ In dark places He has made me dwell, Like those who have long been dead. ⁷ He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy. ⁸ Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer. ⁹ He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked. ¹⁰ He is to me like a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in secret places. ¹¹ He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate. ¹² He bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow. ¹³ He made the arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts. ¹⁴ I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day. ¹⁵ He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood. ¹⁶ He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust. ¹⁷ My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness. ¹⁸ So I say, "My strength has perished, And so has my hope from the LORD."

You see, as a messenger of the Lord who faithfully proclaimed the Lord’s message to the Jewish people, Jeremiah was not insulated from the consequences that came upon the Jewish people from the Lord. Instead, Jeremiah, living in the besieged and then conquered city, was exposed to the same circumstances as his fellow Jewish people. Jeremiah witnessed and experienced the results of the Lord’s right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people. And here we see Jeremiah record his raw emotions as he attempted to process all that happened to him as he served the Lord.

Jeremiah wrestled with the emotions that came with the seeming absence of the Lord. Jeremiah wrestled with the emotions that came with being broken in body and spirit as a result of God’s right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people. Jeremiah wrestled with the emotions that came with being imprisoned by the Jewish people during the siege for being faithful to the Lord. Jeremiah wrestled with the emotions that came with feeling like God had singled Him out for punishment like a bear or lion who came out of hiding to attack, or like an archer shooting at a target.

Jeremiah wrestled with the emotions that came with being mocked and laughed at by his fellow Jewish people. Jeremiah wrestled with the emotions that came with being filled with bitterness as a result of being trampled underfoot. Jeremiah wrestled with the emotions that came with being deprived of peace and prosperity, only to be left in despair. Then, after attempting to process his raw emotions that flowed from the circumstances of all that happened to him as he served the Lord, we see Jeremiah turn to the Lord in verse 19-24:

 ¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. ²⁰ Surely my soul remembers And is bowed down within me. ²¹ This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. ²² The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. ²³ They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. ²⁴ "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him."

As Jeremiah processed his circumstances of outward affliction and inward turmoil and bitterness, he was brought to a place of despair. However, in his despair, Jeremiah recalled something that provided him hope, or the ability to wait with a confident expectation for the future. And that hope was in the reality that The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. Now when Jeremiah uses the word lovingkindness, this word has no English equivalent. This word literally means steadfast love and faithful devotion.

Jeremiah would wait with a confident expectation for the future because of the Lord’s steadfast love and faithful devotion to His people and His promises. Jeremiah would wait with a confident expectation for the future because the Lord’s faithful devotion and compassion was offered every day, day after day. Jeremiah would wait with a confident expectation for the future because he viewed the Lord as faithful. Jeremiah would wait with a confident expectation for the future because he viewed the Lord as His portion, or as the source of his life who would provide. And because the Lord was the source of his life, Jeremiah would wait upon Him to act in the midst of difficulty, with a confident expectation the He would act out of His steadfast love and faithful devotion.

Now if you grew up in church, or spent any time in church, you are probably at least somewhat familiar with these verses. You are at least somewhat familiar with these verses because you may have them on a coffee mug or hanging on a wall. These verses often serve as a source of comfort for many people. These verses are often viewed as a promise from the Lord that the Lord, in His steadfast love and faithful devotion, will deliver us from times of difficulty and suffering in our lives. However, while we may be very familiar with these verses, most of us are not familiar with the verses that follow. And it is in the verses that follow that may cause us to look at these verses much differently.

Friday we will look at these verses...