It Starts Small

Lamentations is a short five chapter book. The author is not written, but many scholars believe it is the Prophet Jerimiah. If you have read the book of Jeremiah, you can see the similarities in the author’s personality through their writing. Jeremiah was a man who grieved sin. Not just his won, but the entire nation of Israel. 

Lamentations is a book of lamenting. To lament, is to mourn. Whomever the author was, I’d suggest you take a moment to read the entire book. Like Job, we get a picture of a man of God who is puzzled over the results of sin in the world. While Job dealt with unexplained evil, Lamentations deals with a tragedy Jerusalem brought on its self. The people of a once great city were experiencing the Judgement of a Holy God, and the results were devastating. 

The heart of Lamentations is actually found in Lamentations 3:22-25 and we will cover this later on. Today, we are look at the last chapter and focus on the former times of our lives. 

Is there a point in your past when your life reflected the once was glory years of Jerusalem? Have you found yourself in ruin and ashes? There is such an amazing hope found in lamenting. 

Do you grieve sin? By grieve, I mean do you really understand the sad devastating effects of your sin? The lives it has touched? Do you understand that sin is the weapon of the enemy to steal your joy and peace? A weapon that kills relationships, and eventually slowly destroys our mind, body and spirit?

When we begin to understand the deep unyielding effects of sin in our lives we truly grieve our sin. It is more than just an, “I’m sorry for me sin.” It is the realization that you have played a part as a pawn in evil and the consequences are very costly. 

What does our grief bring us?

¹⁷ Because of this, our heart is sick;
because of these, our eyes grow dim:
¹⁸ because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate
and has jackals prowling in it.

Lamentations 5:17-18

Not only is mourning our sin important, but asking the Lord’s forgiveness when we fail Him is important. Much of the author’s poetry is concerned with the fallen bricks and cracking mortar of an overrun city. 

Do you see any of that destroyed city in your own life? DO you feel overrun by the enemy? Are you mourning the sin that has brought you to this point?

¹⁷ I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
¹⁸ Then I thought, “My future is lost,
as well as my hope from the Lord.”
ז Zayin
¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my homelessness,
the wormwood and the poison.
²⁰ I continually remember them
and have become depressed.
²¹ Yet I call this to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
ח Cheth
²² Because of the Lord’s faithful love
we do not perish,
for his mercies never end.
²³ They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness!
²⁴ I say, “The Lord is my portion,
therefore I will put my hope in him.”
ט Teth
²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the person who seeks him.
²⁶ It is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord.
¹⁷ I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
¹⁸ Then I thought, “My future is lost,
as well as my hope from the Lord.”
ז Zayin
¹⁹ Remember^[f] my affliction and my homelessness,
the wormwood and the poison.
²⁰ I continually remember them
and have become depressed.
²¹ Yet I call this to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
ח Cheth
²² Because of the Lord’s faithful love
we do not perish,
for his mercies never end.
²³ They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness!
²⁴ I say, “The Lord is my portion,
therefore I will put my hope in him.”
ט Teth
²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the person who seeks him.
²⁶ It is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord.

Lamentations 3:17-26

As the author wrote, God is faithful and His mercies are new each day! The renewing we seek is found in the acknowledgement, WE, and only WE have destroyed ourselves, our lives, and our relationships. We have the opportunity to take responsibility and to seek God’s forgiveness. We have an opportunity to repent and return to the Lord who is faithful to restore our lives to its former glory, except an glory that is godly. 

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