Lamentations 1:1-7 says...Bible reading week 15, day 5

Today's verses are Lamentations 1:1-7 says,

How lonely sits the city that was full of people!  She has become like a widow who was once great among the nations!  She who was a princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer!

She weeps bitterly in the night and her tears are on her cheeks; she has none to comfort her among all her lovers.  All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.

Judah has gone into exile under affliction and under harsh servitude; she dwells among the nations, but she has found no rest; all her pursuers have overtaken her in the midst of distress.

The roads of Zion are in mourning because no one comes to the appointed feasts.  All her gates are desolate; her priests are groaning, her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is bitter.

Her adversaries have become her masters, her enemies prosper; for the LORD has caused her grief because of the multitude of her transgressions; her little ones have gone away as captives before the great adversary.

All her majesty has departed from the daughter of Zion; her princes have become like deer that have found no pasture; and they have fled without strength before the pursuer.

In the days of her affliction and homelessness Jerusalem remembers all her precious things that were from the days of old, when her people fell into the hands of the adversary and no one helped her.  The adversaries saw her, they mocked at her ruin.

Let's stop there and look at this one long illustration of a princess, the nation of Israel, who has become forced laborer of another because of her own devices.  What she once enjoyed is no longer.  Her friends are gone which could be the wrong kind of friends who promote what is wrong and run the other way when things get tough.  They are not friends that hold us to the right and then continue to dog us to keep to it.  I know at times that type of accountability doesn't feel like comfort but it is.  

Another effect of this not following after God is a lack of rest.  The rest we are talking about here is not just physical rest which could be hindered but it is about spiritual rest.  The rest that is missing is the comfort of knowing what to do and say because God has directed us how we are to live.  We are to live holy lives and while living this out might be hard at times, we rest in the decision that has been made in our commitment to Him.  We just need to follow through on that decision, we rest in it, through the action of obeying Him over obeying others.

One effect I see in people's lives that start to allow other influences and voices into their values is that no one comes to the appointed feasts.  Those times to gather to give continual praise to God are not as well attended as before.  The world fills up our schedules and the sacrifice is seen in the sacred times being sacrificed for the worship of other things.  I hate writing this but it is a reality.  Not that we would fill up our schedules so much with church activities that we don't have time to build relationships with others but it seems the pendulum has swung so far the other way that we have no time for church.  If we don't have time for church, how can we tell them about this relationship with Jesus that we are not guarding His day given to us.

The next subject is that of unrepentant sin.  We allow sin to linger.  Because of this action, her little ones have gone away.  We sometimes state about how the next generation is walking away from the church.  Could it be because we have not been serious about our sin?  Could it be that we are not confessing sin and displaying before them what we are to do with it?  What they see is us denying it or excusing it or hiding it rather than being real and back on our knees before our God.  Lingering sin leads others astray.

In this state we are not getting fed.  We are like deer without a pasture and with no strength.  We have abandoned the practice of feeding ourselves the spiritual nourishment that we need.  We have tried to substitute a homemade meal around the dining table with God with a fast-food order eaten in the car with maybe a Christian radio station on.  We can look okay on the outside for quite awhile but on the inside we could be so malnourished of the food only God can give us through His word and our time with Him.

The last one to mention in this passage is the loss of precious things to us.  We look back to the way things used to be between ourselves and God and long for it back.  We won't get help from the world to get it back.  The world will mock us.  The world will not give us a hand but rather give us the boot and respond as they did when Jesus hung on the cross.  The first step back is to realize that something has been lost and it is very precious to our lives.  That realization starts to turn this picture around.

What is your personal assessment of your spiritual life?  

• Are your friends challenging to a deeper walk with Jesus or are they courting you to ease up on Jesus?
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• What kind of rest are you experiencing?
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• In the midst of physical unrest are you still experiencing and maybe even to a greater degree spiritual rest?
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• How is your time with God privately and corporately?
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• Are you guarding both of those times because they necessary?
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• Are you holding onto sin or are you confessing it?
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• Are you coming clean or are you playing cover up?
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• What is on your plate?
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• Is it from God's kitchen or is it filled up from the world's buffet?
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• Are you looking back or are you looking forward?
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• Are you wanting what was precious back or are you looking for more of the precious ahead?  

Let us pray.

"Lord, laments are good if they lead to repentance.  Help us to find our knees bent before You if needed.  May we see the error and effects that come from not following after You.  Amen."

Pastor Adam