Lamentations Features Six Major Themes, All Linked With The Concept Of Suffering
1. Their Suffering Was the Result of Their Sin
This strong theme is acknowledged in each chapter (as in 1:5; 2:14; 3:42; 4:13; 5:16). By the time the poems were written, this was obviously fully accepted. Even the Babylonians acknowledged the fact (Jer. 40:3). They knew that their suffering had not come upon them by chance. It was due to the wrath of God provoked by their sin (2:1). He was dealing with their spiritual condition, and they were supposed to take it personally.
2. Their Suffering Was Seen as Coming from God Rather Than from Men
The Babylonians were no more than an instrument in His hands. The fact that He was the ultimate cause is brought out throughout the book. No less than forty-four verses refer to this fact—an average of 1 out of every 3.5 verses. A few examples are 1:13, 15; 2:1, 4; 3:1, 37, 38.
3. Their Suffering Could Direct Them Toward God
The prophet is constantly conscious of God, of His purposes, and of His dealings with His people. There is no indication here of suffering resulting in a total abandonment of God or an eradication of His principles from their minds.
4. Suffering, Tears, and Prayer Belong Together
They were encouraged to pour out their hearts to God, to weep before Him, and to tell Him all the details of their pain, grief, and frustration. Each chapter, except chapter 4, ends with a prayer. But then the whole of chapter 5 is a prayer, as though making up for this lack. The prayers are both detailed (2:20, 21; 5:1–10) and emotional (1:20, 21; 3:48–51). They contain the language of grief and repentance (1:20; 3:40–42), and are an indication that it is entirely appropriate to pray like this when the occasion demands it.
5. Prayer Should Always Look for Some Ray of Hope
It should never be completely given over to sorrow. After the detailed descriptions of suffering and sorrow in the first two and one-half chapters, a new understanding seems to surface in 3:21–24. Here the poet speaks about hope, and about God’s mercies, compassion, and faithfulness. It was a realization that a manifestation of God’s discipline did not mean that His love had ceased. When the discipline had accomplished His purpose, the circumstances would change (3:31, 32). God may have been using Babylon, but that did not mean that they were His elect or that He favored their cruel methods (3:34–36). The future held a vindication of Israel over their enemies (3:58–66).
6. Their Responsibility Was to Submit to Their Sufferings Patiently
Their sorrow had to be accepted in patience, with the realization that it would end when God’s will had been accomplished (3:26–32).
This Book Has A
Great Deal To Say To Us Today
1. The best way to survive grief is to express it. It needs to be shared with others and with God. There is a therapeutic value in working through each aspect of sorrow.
2. The destruction of Jerusalem and the lessons God taught His people were so significant that the Jews started reading this book at an annual service to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem. They did not want the painful experience to be forgotten. Defeats as well as victories need to be remembered. If the church would commemorate some of its failures, for which God has had to discipline it, these failures would be less likely to be repeated.
3. When Christians have received much blessing and enlightenment from God, and then turn their backs on Him, it is an extremely serious matter. Privileges do not protect us either from responsibility or from discipline. They increase our responsibility and our culpability, and deserve more serious discipline. This is particularly true of church leaders.
4. To what extent does God punish His people for their sins today? Christ’s death for us and His resurrection have certainly redeemed us. We do not bear retributive punishment for any sin we commit, since Christ has suffered in our place. We are living under a different covenant than did the Jews of 587 b.c. Even unbelievers are not normally punished for their sins until the next life (2 Pet. 2:4–10). But both believers and unbelievers sometimes have to suffer the consequences of past sins, such as drug addiction, drunkenness, and murder. And God often allows suffering in our lives to discipline us (Heb. 12:3–17). Through it we learn to obey Him and become stronger Christians (vv. 9, 12, 13).
Another consideration is church discipline. Christians who turn their backs on God should undergo some discipline in their home church. God sometimes disciplines people Himself by allowing suffering (1 Cor. 5:1–6) and even death (Acts 5:1–11). The main purpose of discipline, however, is restoration (2 Cor. 2:5–8). Even though we are not retributively punished for our sins, God will sometimes allow us to suffer when we have sinned in order to restore us to fellowship with Him. We need to submit to what God is doing and attempt to learn from the experience. If it is God’s discipline, it will last as long as is necessary. There is no quick-fix solution to some of these problems and no easy way out. Discipline will direct us to God, drive us to prayer, and bring us into submission. We need it.
5. Of course, not all suffering is the result of God’s discipline. Satan, too, can bring suffering on us (Job 2:7; Luke 13:16), but the suffering he brings is destructive rather than restorative.
This book shows how weak people are under the Law, and how unable they are to serve God in their own strength. This drives them to Christ (Rom. 8:3). Even in these poems, however, glimpses of Christ shine through. He is our hope (3:21, 24, 29). He is the manifestation of God’s mercy and compassion (3:22, 23, 32). He is our redemption and vindication (3:58, 59).
Divine grief over the sins of Israel (2:1–6) reminds us that the Holy Spirit was, and still is, often grieved by our behavior (Is. 63:10). Repentance is also an indication of the work of the Holy Spirit among God’s people (3:40–42; John 16:7–11).
Isaiah Chapter 62:4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delights in thee, and thy land shall be married.
Hephzibah - i.e. My delight is in her.
62:12 And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.
Redeemed - Heb. "goel," Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield "Isaiah 59:20")
Why is Lamentations so important? Like the book of Job, Lamentations pictures a man of God puzzling over the results of evil and suffering in the world. However, while Job dealt with unexplained evil, Jeremiah lamented a tragedy entirely of Jerusalem’s making. The people of this once great city experienced the judgment of the holy God, and the results were devastating. But at the heart of this book, at the center of this lament over the effects of sin in the world, sit a few verses devoted to hope in the Lord (Lamentations 3:22–25). This statement of faith standing strong in the midst of the surrounding darkness shines as a beacon to all those suffering under the consequences of their own sin and disobedience.
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