1 John 4:8
God is LOVE
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Lamentations 1:1-22
Jeremiah Laments about Israel and Jerusalem
1 How deserted lies the city,
once so full of people!
How like a widow is she,
who once was great among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces
has now become a slave.
2 Bitterly she weeps at night,
tears are on her cheeks.
Among all her lovers
there is no one to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed her;
they have become her enemies.
3 After affliction and harsh labor,
Judah has gone into exile.
She dwells among the nations;
she finds no resting place.
All who pursue her have overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.
4 The roads to Zion mourn,
for no one comes to her appointed festivals.
All her gateways are desolate,
her priests groan,
her young women grieve,
and she is in bitter anguish.
5 Her foes have become her masters;
her enemies are at ease.
The Lord has brought her grief
because of her many sins.
Her children have gone into exile,
captive before the foe.
6 All the splendor has departed
from Daughter Zion.
Her princes are like deer
that find no pasture;
in weakness they have fled
before the pursuer.
7 In the days of her affliction and wandering
Jerusalem remembers all the treasures
that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into enemy hands,
there was no one to help her.
Her enemies looked at her
and laughed at her destruction.
8 Jerusalem has sinned greatly
and so has become unclean.
All who honored her despise her,
for they have all seen her naked;
she herself groans
and turns away.
9 Her filthiness clung to her skirts;
she did not consider her future.
Her fall was astounding;
there was none to comfort her.
“Look, Lord, on my affliction,
for the enemy has triumphed.”
10 The enemy laid hands
on all her treasures;
she saw pagan nations
enter her sanctuary—
those you had forbidden
to enter your assembly.
11 All her people groan
as they search for bread;
they barter their treasures for food
to keep themselves alive.
“Look, Lord, and consider,
for I am despised.”
12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look around and see.
Is any suffering like my suffering
that was inflicted on me,
that the Lord brought on me
in the day of his fierce anger?
13 “From on high he sent fire,
sent it down into my bones.
He spread a net for my feet
and turned me back.
He made me desolate,
faint all the day long.
14 “My sins have been bound into a yoke;
by his hands they were woven together.
They have been hung on my neck,
and the Lord has sapped my strength.
He has given me into the hands
of those I cannot withstand.
15 “The Lord has rejected
all the warriors in my midst;
he has summoned an army against me
to crush my young men.
In his winepress the Lord has trampled
Virgin Daughter Judah.
16 “This is why I weep
and my eyes overflow with tears.
No one is near to comfort me,
no one to restore my spirit.
My children are destitute
because the enemy has prevailed.”
17 Zion stretches out her hands,
but there is no one to comfort her.
The Lord has decreed for Jacob
that his neighbors become his foes;
Jerusalem has become
an unclean thing among them.
18 “The Lord is righteous,
yet I rebelled against his command.
Listen, all you peoples;
look on my suffering.
My young men and young women
have gone into exile.
19 “I called to my allies
but they betrayed me.
My priests and my elders
perished in the city
while they searched for food
to keep themselves alive.
20 “See, Lord, how distressed I am!
I am in torment within,
and in my heart I am disturbed,
for I have been most rebellious.
Outside, the sword bereaves;
inside, there is only death.
21 “People have heard my groaning,
but there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my distress;
they rejoice at what you have done.
May you bring the day you have announced
so they may become like me.
22 “Let all their wickedness come before you;
deal with them
as you have dealt with me
because of all my sins.
My groans are many
and my heart is faint.”
For the director of music. For pipes. A psalm of David.
1 Listen to my words, Lord,
consider my lament.
2 Hear my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.
3 In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly.
4 For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;
with you, evil people are not welcome.
5 The arrogant cannot stand
in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong;
6 you destroy those who tell lies.
The bloodthirsty and deceitful
you, Lord, detest.
7 But I, by your great love,
can come into your house;
in reverence I bow down
toward your holy temple.
8 Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies—
make your way straight before me.
9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
their heart is filled with malice.
Their throat is an open grave;
with their tongues they tell lies.
10 Declare them guilty, O God!
Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,
for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
12 Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
Why do people turn to God?...When our hearts are grieving and hurt, where can we turn?...When we do not understand what has happened, where can we go?...When we are faced with trials in our lives, who can we go to for help?...Grief, pain, suffering, and in trouble are difficult places in life...And with all the thinking we can do when grief hits, or pain sets in, or we are suffering -more and more thinking does not ease the grief, or pain, the suffering, or the trouble we are in...
We know that God is LOVE...But as we read the Bible, we often read of lamentations...There is even a whole called the Book of Lamentations, and it is the Lamentations of the Great Prophet Jeremiah...In the first chapter of Lamentations, Jeremiah writes of Jerusalem as being a woman...It is a time, when it seems, that the nation of Israel has no friends and none to comfort the land of Israel and no one to comfort its people...Babylon has destroyed the city of Jerusalem around 586 b.c. and most of the city is in ruins...Most of the Israelites have been exiled to Babylon...And this background of Jerusalem being destroyed by the Babylonians is the background for the Book of Lamentations...The people of Israel have sinned against the LORD and sin has its consequences...And Jeremiah laments about the troubles of Jerusalem, the times and his people in exile...The times are trying for Jeremiah, who loves his city, his nation, his people, and his LORD...Jeremiah teaches us that there is a time for lamentations in life...
In the Psalms, which many are written by King David, he is often crying out to the LORD in the Psalms...I often think that David stayed healthy by crying out to the LORD in his different Psalms...He releases many of his feelings in his writings of the Psalms...In the fifth Psalms he laments to the LORD...David asks that the LORD to listen to his words and to consider his lament...David writes hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to You I pray...In the morning, Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait expectantly...God is not pleased with any wickedness...And by His great LOVE, David can come into the LORD's house; in reverence and bow down in His Holy Temple...But let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them ever sing for joy...Spread Your protection over them, that those who love Your name may rejoice in You...Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; You surround them with Your favor as with a shield...
Jeremiah and David know that there are trials in life, and some trials are very great...They know there is wickedness in this world then and even today...And who do they turn to?...They turn to the LORD in times of their trials with evil, their grief, their sorrow, and their lamentations...
So LOVE and lamentations have this most unusual connection...We know that God is LOVE, and that LOVE protects, even in the times we do not understand...We can take refuge in the LORD, because He gives us this protection that only He can give...And we can rejoice in His name, because in His name we can trust...In God we Trust...When we are troubled we can turn to the LORD, our Father in Heaven...