Lamentation: The Cry of Our Heart

Lamentations expresses ours and Israel's loud cries of distress over our sins, as at a Funeral. Its author Jeremiah, who wrote about the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. is not mentioned in the Book of Lamentations.

In the first chapter of Lamentations, Jerusalem laments for herself. Jerusalem has been besieged by her enemy, Babylon, she has been looted and burned. Her people have been slaughtered by the Babylonians. Her choice young men and women have been forced to leave for Babylon. She does not understand how God could forsake her. Its like our lives, when it seems, that God is not with us, but he will never leave our sides.

Chapter Two describes God's wrath against Judah and how God allowed Babylon to lay siege, killing her people, loot Judah and carry off Jerusalem's people to Babylon. God is Judah's real enemy, because of Judah's sinfulness. Lamentations 2:7 says "The Lord has rejected His altar, He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has delivered into the hand of the enemy". In our lives, God allows suffering for our good. Suffering helps to burn off those things, which take us, from serving our Lord Jesus completely. God uses these things also to test us. Like God's testing of Abraham and Job.

We see in Chapter Three, that Jeremiah is not writing history but is a witness to the Fall of Jerusalem and the Temple. We see, also, a type or image of Jesus. Like Jerusalem, Jesus was forsaken by God his Father, God had turned his back on Jesus and allowed his enemies to be victorious. (Psalm 22:1, Matthew 27:46) Both, Jeremiah and Jesus had wept over Jerusalem and saw her destruction. 586 B.C. and 70 A.D. (Matthew 23:37-39) Jesus has even cried over us, before we were saved. He loved us, so much, that he was crucified, was buried, arose to life and is alive today. (Revelation 5:12) Now, Jesus is our advocate before his Father, to plead on our behalf of our innocence because of his precious blood, if we only accept Jesus, as our Savior.

Lamentations Four says that the prophets and priests had become so evil that even the neighbouring Pagan nations had decided not to have anything to do with Israel, Israel's sins were so great, but it will not keep God's wrath from those Pagan nations. God is not going to over look their sins. God's redemptive work through his Son, Jesus will not last for ever. God's demand for justice will have its day. Our priests of today (that means us) must be whole hearted for Jesus, every day and not just just on Sunday or present a Flabby form of Christianity or God will have his vengence.
Finally, Jeremiah prays for Jerusalem, like our Lord's prayer for us, in John 17:6-26. Jeremiah recounts what has happened to Jerusalem and her people. Jeremiah (as well as Jesus) desires us to open our hearts to God, as David has done in Psalm 13, Psalm 17 and Psalm 22.

In closing, we are to put God and his son Jesus, in First place in our lives at all times. That means Tuesday, as much as on Sunday. Lets not allow ourselves to become FLABBY!! We need to be 100% committed to Jesus and 0% to the world, that is every day of our life.