How?! It seems like disaster all around us. People acknowledge God but don’t obey and honor Him. God’s word is twisted and distorted. We are dealing with the aftermath of personal and corporate rebellion. We weep. Who are we to trust? Where do we place our hope? We learn hope and trust through Lamentations our TEARS to Yahweh who saves and His new mercies each day. #Lamentations\#2024
Father we live in a world SICK AT HEART, and you have given us the unique gift of lament. Help us to learn to lament through TEARS as we TURN to You, EXPRESS our complaints and questions, ASK boldly without pride or demands, REST in Your character, and SURRENDER to Your eternal promises. Because of Your faithful love we do not perish, for Your mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! We say: The Lord is our portion, therefore we will put our hope in You. Amen
Well over 1/3 of the Psalms, which are the hymnal of the Old Testament, are lament. Lament is all over the scriptures. There is a pattern to biblical lament. It is displayed in the reality of the biblical story from Genesis to Revelation. The Hebrew title of the book of Lamentations is “How?!” The greek title of Lamentations means “to cry out or shed tears”. “Every human being has the same opening story. Life begins with tears. It’s simply a part of what it means to be human—to cry is human, but to lament is uniquely Christian.” (Mark Vroegop)
The prophet Jeremiah wrote Lamentations from his experience of choosing to be under the siege of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in Jerusalem with God’s people. Judah had been destroyed because of their sin and rebellion. In Jerusalem, the people died of starvation, disease, and war as a result. God’s people and the nations around them had ignored the warnings of scripture and God’s prophets for hundreds of years. Jeremiah had spent 40 years warning the people and telling them that because of their sin and rebellion they were going to need to surrender to Babylon for 70 years (1 year for every year of Jubilee they did not celebrate since entering the promised land), and then God would send for them to return. God fulfilled that promise under Ezra and Nehemiah.
Each chapter uses the Hebrew alphabet as an acrostic. Like our A, B, C’s, it would be easier to remember by doing it that way. These lamentations are a picture of where believers find themselves today. We are a sinful and suffering people who are captives in a foreign and decaying land. We wait for the return of our King Yahweh who saves (Jesus). He will bring the new earth and new Jerusalem just as He promised for those who follow Him.
Upon reading this first chapter, how does Jeremiah’s descriptions make you SICK AT HEART?
God uses the feminine gender (she, her, daughter, wife) to refer to Jerusalem and His people. Discuss why He might do that?
What does the passage say are the specific reasons God has allowed Jerusalem and His people to be destroyed, be taken away, and be SICK AT HEART?
What is God's purpose in these catastrophic events?
What woes or difficulties in our world today might be linked to our collective rebellion against God like in Jeremiah’s day?
Mark Vroegop says, “to cry is human, but to lament is uniquely Christian.” Look at the process of Lament below. How is the process of biblical lament different from how other religions and beliefs systems process things like grief, guilt, hope, and purpose?
Discuss what it might look like if we get stuck in any one of these without finishing the process?