LAMENTATIONS
Expressions of sorrow or deep regret.
Note: 1 Corinthians 10:11, Romans 15:4
Written by Jeremiah
3:1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
THE BLIGHT OF JERUSALEM
A nation
distraught
1:1-3
1 How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow is
she, who was great among the nations! The princess among the provinces has
become a slave! 2 She weeps bitterly in the night, her tears are on her cheeks;
among all her lovers she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt
treacherously with her; they have become her enemies. 3 Judah has gone into
captivity, under affliction and hard servitude; she dwells among the nations,
she finds no rest; all her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.
The degree of
desperation and destruction
2:11 My eyes fail with tears, my heart is troubled; my bile is poured on the
ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the
children and the infants faint in the streets of the city.
4:4 The tongue of the infant clings to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the
young children ask for bread, but no one breaks it for them.
4:10 The hands
of the compassionate women have cooked their own children; they became food for
them in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
THE SORROW OF SIN
The sorrow of a destroyed nation
1:12 "Is it
nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see if there is any sorrow like
my sorrow, which has been brought on me, which the LORD has inflicted in the
day of His fierce anger.
Note: There is no pain like personal
pain.
The terrible effect of sin
3:1-18
Note: "My sin is no one else's
business!"? Certainly it is, because the sin of the sinner affects those
who did not sin!
WHY WAS GOD SO
HARSH?
Jerusalem had sinned once again
1:5 Her adversaries have become the master, her enemies prosper; for the
LORD has afflicted her because of the multitude of her transgressions. Her
children have gone into captivity before the enemy.
1:8-9 8 Jerusalem has sinned gravely,
therefore she has become vile. All who honored her despise her because they
have
seen her nakedness; yes, she sighs and turns away. 9 Her uncleanness is
in her skirts; she did not consider her destiny; therefore her collapse was
awesome; she had no comforter. "O LORD, behold my affliction, for the
enemy is exalted!"
1:14 "The yoke of my transgressions was bound; they were woven together
by His hands, and thrust upon my neck. He made my strength fail; the Lord
delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.
1:22 "Let all their wickedness come before You, and do to them as You
have done to me for all my transgressions; for my sighs are many, and my heart
is faint."
4:12-13 12 The kings of the earth, and all inhabitants of the world, would not
have believed that the adversary and the enemy could enter the gates of
Jerusalem-- 13 Because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her
priests, who shed in her midst the blood of the just.
THE PROPHET SPEAKS
TO US
1:18 "The LORD is righteous, for I rebelled against His commandment.
Hear now, all peoples, and behold my sorrow; my virgins and my young men have
gone into captivity.
WHAT IS THE
SOLUTION?
Lamentations
3:19-33
Turn to the Lord
and wait upon Him.
When at last, all is said,
the last deed is done,
the
last excuse made,
the last tear is shed,
There is the Lord.
Tom Russell / 1902 Trailridge Dr. Richardson TX 75081 / 972 437 6963 /
Russellfamily1@home.com