(#4) I'm thankful for Jeremiah's "Lamentations"
"Lamentations" may not be a title that was ever bound for the NYT's best seller list, but it should at least be in every Christian's top 66 picks, not only because it is inspired by God but also for the following reason: it demonstrates in dramatic fashion the terrifying consequences of sin, making this book one of the strongest deterrents to falling away from the Lord.
Few other books of the Bible describe in more horrific detail what happens to people who turn away from God. Jeremiah saw the nation of Judah, and in particular Jerusalem, descend into a hellish nightmare where people traded their most precious possessions for a meal (1:11), where children died in their mothers' laps as they asked for food (2:11-12), where some women even ate their own children (2:20), presumably after they died of starvation, where religious leaders had nothing to offer (2:9), where wise and experienced people had no idea what to say (2:10), where the best and the brightest were slaughtered by the invading horde of enemies (2:21). Jeremiah couldn't help but feel that "the Lord has become like an enemy" (2:5). He personally witnessed God "pour out his wrath like fire", slaying "all that were pleasant to the eye" (2:4).
Jeremiah was so overwhelmed by the carnage around him and the ferocity of God's livid anger, it made him physically sick. In the second phrase of 1:20, the literal translation of Jeremiah's lament is, "my inward parts are in ferment" and in 2:11 he says, "My bile is poured out on the earth". In 3:4, he describes his flesh and skin wasting away. I think we should read that literally. He endured a severe food shortage.
The Lord is not a doting grandfather. The Lord, he is God. It is incredibly foolish to forsake him after having entered into a covenant with him. He is not a fool, he does not suffer fools and he is not fooled. He will be glorified among the nations.
Thank you, Lord, for reminding us of your anger and wrath, because it motivates us to live worthy of the calling with which we have been called.
Few other books of the Bible describe in more horrific detail what happens to people who turn away from God. Jeremiah saw the nation of Judah, and in particular Jerusalem, descend into a hellish nightmare where people traded their most precious possessions for a meal (1:11), where children died in their mothers' laps as they asked for food (2:11-12), where some women even ate their own children (2:20), presumably after they died of starvation, where religious leaders had nothing to offer (2:9), where wise and experienced people had no idea what to say (2:10), where the best and the brightest were slaughtered by the invading horde of enemies (2:21). Jeremiah couldn't help but feel that "the Lord has become like an enemy" (2:5). He personally witnessed God "pour out his wrath like fire", slaying "all that were pleasant to the eye" (2:4).
Jeremiah was so overwhelmed by the carnage around him and the ferocity of God's livid anger, it made him physically sick. In the second phrase of 1:20, the literal translation of Jeremiah's lament is, "my inward parts are in ferment" and in 2:11 he says, "My bile is poured out on the earth". In 3:4, he describes his flesh and skin wasting away. I think we should read that literally. He endured a severe food shortage.
The Lord is not a doting grandfather. The Lord, he is God. It is incredibly foolish to forsake him after having entered into a covenant with him. He is not a fool, he does not suffer fools and he is not fooled. He will be glorified among the nations.
Thank you, Lord, for reminding us of your anger and wrath, because it motivates us to live worthy of the calling with which we have been called.
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