Lamentations 5
-Jeremiah makes one last plea for
restoration and God’s redemptive favor in this powerful last chapter of the
book of Lamentations. His desire first and foremost is that the LORD will
remember His covenant, but too that He will look and see what has befallen them
in regards to the reproach they are receiving from Babylon. He speaks
truthfully about how Israel’s inheritance has been turned over to strangers and
their houses to aliens. Israel has become orphans without a father, and her
mothers are now widows. Their hardship is portrayed in having to pay for water,
wood, and food from the likes of Egypt and Assyria, nations not exactly prone
to follow Yahweh. To these foreign powers they have had to submit for survival.
There is no rest for them, they are worn out, and they are pursued relentlessly
by their enemies. The famine has scorched their exposed skin. Their women have
been violated and ravished in Zion and in the cities of Judah. Princes were
hanged by their hands, and the elders were not respected. The young men had to
do forced-hard labor at the grinding mill and carrying loads of wood. No longer
do elders of wisdom sit in the gate, and no young men are heard singing their
beautiful music (Lamentations 5:1-14).
-“The joy of our hearts has
ceased; our dancing has been turned into mourning. The crown has fallen from
our head; woe to us, for we have sinned (Lamentations 5:15-16)!” This is the
sad, but accurate commentary on the people of the LORD during the Babylonian
captivity period of the mid-500’s B.C. These things have left their hearts
faint and their eyes dim with grief. Mount Zion lies desolate, and foxes prowl
in it as scavengers (Lamentations 5:17-18).
-Jeremiah’s final four verses
give all authority back to God, who rules forever from generation to
generation. The plea goes forth to the Almighty not to forget His promises to
His people. The final hope is for restoration and renewal as in the days of
old. The possibility is left open that the LORD could utterly reject them with
His exceeding anger, but knowing the heart of God this could never happen (Psalms
105:8-11, Lamentations 3:31-32; 5:19-22, Luke 1:67-79). *Application* Does God
get angry with us? Absolutely, when we transgress His ways and His design. We
justly deserve His agitation and wrath. Does He show mercy, compassion,
forgiveness, and patience way more than we deserve? Of course He does. He is
our only hope for the malaise that we have created. When you have come to the
end of your own means, which will leave you tired, hungry, burned, and hopeless
(among other adjectives of futility), turn back to the LORD who is able to
restore your soul and make all things new again (Revelation 21:5-8).
Verses to Memorize: Lamentations 5:15-16, 19-21
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