Lamentations 3:1-7 says...Bible reading week 19, day 1

Today's verses are Lamentations 3:1-7, which read,

1 - I am the man who has seen affliction because of the rod of His wrath.

2 - He has driven me and made me walk in darkness and not in light.

3 - Surely against me He has turned His hand repeatedly all the day.

4 - He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones.

5 - He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.

6 - In dark places He has made me dwell, like those who have long been dead.

7 - He was walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.

Chapter 1 of Lamentations had 22 verses, one for each of the Hebrew alphabet and given in order.  Chapter 2 followed the same suit.  Chapter 3 triples the verses with 66 and also starts each triplet with a Hebrew letter in order.  Much of this was done so that memorization would be made easier and also the transmission of copies to be accurately passed along.  Chapter 3 starts out with Jeremiah speaking of himself in relationship to the disobedient people of Israel and also his consequences felt from action and from God.

Verse 1 lets us see that even the righteous experience the wrath of God because of the disobedience of the people.  We could be echoing some of these same words as a faithful follower of God and a faithful church holding to His word in a country that is running fast away from Him.  We see all the more clearly the black and white between what God says and what our world does.  Remember that our God of love is also a God of justice because you can't have true love without it being right.  He is fully justified in His wrath as He fully loves the world.  We are in the world but not of it but can feel at times the effects of those who bring on this type of tough love from God.

Verse 2 describes Jeremiah as walking through a time of darkness.  "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me."  We remember that phrase from the 23rd Psalm.  He, God, is sending us out in the upcoming storm but He will meet us on the water, walking on it, supernaturally showing Himself as God to us in the midst of it.  This is our time, darkness over light, but we do not let go of the Light of the world just like Jeremiah, thought while weeping, held onto the message of His God and proclaiming it to these disobedient people.

Verse 3 and following gives us the intensity of what is going on.  Jeremiah uses terms that go to the extremes like "repeatedly" and "encompass" and "can not."  It seems that we who are faithful are also being punished by God.  It seems that we are bearing this along with the unfaithful and there is no reprieve for us.  It seems that we are suffering God's wrath even though we have been preaching of His peace.  

Verse 4 continues with this thought with a focus on the body breaking down and wasting away.  Verse 5 moves onto the mind with it being overtaken by bitterness and hardship.  Verse 6 takes us to the graveyard to face an impending reality that we could end our physical life this way in a world dominated by darkness and a coldness toward God.  Instead of us going to the grave with a bright outlook for the future, all we see is more despair and it is ever growing instead of shrinking.  These verses are meant to make us face reality so that we might be ever more faithful in the midst of it all.  I think of Nehemiah when he hears that the walls of Jerusalem are broken down and the city is still in ruins and unprotected.  He weeps for the city and it drives him to his knees to pray.  He prepares himself not to run from the reality but to run into it with God and holding firmly onto Him going into that darkness.  This pain we feel has a purpose for those who follow after the Lord.

We conclude this morning with verse 7 that gives the images of being trapped and also tied to the situation.  God has given us a ball and chain.  We live here for His glory as long as He deems and we feel the burden of the present reality.  We weep for our country like Jeremiah weeped for the people of Israel.  He was with them in the exile.  He was continuing to be a prophet, a holy man, to them as they felt together the consequences of God's wrath.  He was not exempt from that physical pain while he preached of a spiritual deliverance.  He was tied to this world, his ball and chain, and it was heavy.

Wednesday Jeremiah will go on with how it seems that God is even hindering those efforts of the faithful to reach out to the unfaithful.  It seems like there are roadblocks at every turn.  We take a step forward but then are driven back 3.  What seems an obvious answer of good is opposed and very hard to implement for the greater good of the society.  Even us being selfless is overshadowed by the world's selfishness.  It is frustrating and Jeremiah is painting the picture of a world that I think we are in today.  Even in the midst of God's wrath, how will we respond?  Let us pray.

"Lord, the feelings are real because You created us to have them.  The pain is real because we can feel it and see it.  But You are also real who has placed Your people in this dark world to continue to proclaim Your light even if it seems they don't hear it or see it.  We are walled in and our chain is heavy for our community.  Help us to weep and continually walk faithful like Jeremiah.  Amen."

Pastor Adam