He has hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.
- Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
the strongholds of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor.
3. In fierce anger he has cut off every horn[c][d] of Israel.
He has withdrawn his right hand at the approach of the enemy.
He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it.
4. Like an enemy he has strung his bow; his right hand is ready.
Like a foe he has slain
all who were pleasing to the eye;
he has poured out his wrath like fire on the tent of Daughter Zion.
5. The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
and destroyed her strongholds.
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for Daughter Judah.
6. He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed his place of meeting.
The LORD has made Zion forget
her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths; in his fierce anger he has spurned
both king and priest.
7. The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his sanctuary.
He has given the walls of her palaces into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed festival.
8. The LORD determined to tear down the wall around Daughter Zion.
He stretched out a measuring line
and did not withhold his hand from destroying. He made ramparts and walls lament;
together they wasted away.
9. Her gates have sunk into the ground; their bars he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more,
and her prophets no longer find visions from the LORD.
10. The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence;
they have sprinkled dust on their heads and put on sackcloth.
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11. My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within;
my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint
in the streets of the city.
12. They say to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away in their mothers’ arms.
13. What can I say for you? With what can I compare you, Daughter Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, Virgin Daughter Zion?
Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?
14. The visions of your prophets were false and worthless;
they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity.
The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading.
15. All who pass your way clap their hands at you;
they scoff and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty,
the joy of the whole earth?”
16. All your enemies open their mouths wide against you;
they scoff and gnash their teeth
and say, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day we have waited for; we have lived to see it.”
17. The LORD has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word,
which he decreed long ago.
He has overthrown you without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you,
he has exalted the horn[e] of your foes.
18. The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord.
You walls of Daughter Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night;
give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest.
19. Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger
at every street corner.
20. “Look, LORD, and consider:
Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring,
the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21. “Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women have fallen by the sword.
You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity.
22. “As you summon to a feast day,
so you summoned against me terrors on every side.
In the day of the LORD’s anger no one escaped or survived; those I cared for and reared my enemy has destroyed.”
The book of Lamentations is like an A to Z handbook for suffering. God’s people who have gone into exile in Babylon. Jerusalem lays in ruins. Here’s what part of that long road of grief looks like in chapter 2:
A- Anger from God has come down in the cloud by which he has covered Jerusalem.
B- Broken and brought down is Daughter Judah
C- Consumed in a flaming fire
D- Destroyed is the temple, the place where the Lord meets his people
E- Enemies have entered the house of the Lord and raised a shout!
F- False were the prophecies and visions of the prophets
G- Great is the calamity of daughter Zion H -How has this suffering come upon us? I – I rebelled against the Lord’s command
J – Jerusalem is sent into exile
K – God himself has become my enemy
L – Lamenting is all I can do
M -My groans are many
N – No comfort is there
There is so much trouble and pain for God’s people that their wound is said to be as deep as the sea. That deep wound of Israel’s suffering is described in how their children and infants faint in the streets of the city. Their lives are ebbing away in their mothers’ arms. What a picture of ultimate despair!
As I read this chapter other pictures come to mind of the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria. How many mothers will have lost their children in that horrifying ordeal? Still another
picture of intense suffering forces itself upon me: the war in Ukraine. Both Russian and Ukrainian mothers fear for the lives of their sons in this ungoing man slaughter.
Strangely enough, the writer of this lament knows why this intense pain and suffering has come upon his people. He knows that it is the Lord’s doing! It is exactly what was planned long ago as a result of the people’s sin.
Unfortunately this whole disaster could have been warded off by messages of warning about this impending judgment. But the prophets had failed to do so, their visions were false and worthless. What is left for God’s people is to cry out to the Lord in their utter despair. They are urged to pour out their hearts like water in the presence of the Lord; to lift up their hands to him for the lives of their children.
In what sense is this word speaking to us as All Saints Amersfoort?
I believe we need to cry out to the Lord and let our tears flow day and night to plead for our children. In many ways we as a post-modern society are taken siege by the enemy. Churches close their doors as so many young people leave the congregations. How often would our young people not say that they can figure out life for themselves and do without God? Life – they believe – is what you make of it. But deep down inside they too cry out for truth, purpose and direction. They too are hungry and thirsty for the living water. And what about us? Are we good signposts? Do we live out our faith in Jesus practically?
Are we on our knees to win back the hearts of our children? Only repentance can bring us back to God. Let us pray for revival for our youth!
Prayer:
Dear father in heaven, We run to you in this time of need. We bring before you our children. Lord, have mercy on them! We are desperate for our children to know and serve you as their God. Reveal your deep love for them. Please use us to speak words of life into their lives. Show them that life without you is empty and meaningless. Touch their hearts by the truth of your Word and kindle in them a desire to know and follow you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Suggested NT reading: John 16:1-33 Suggested song:
His mercies are more by Keith and Krystin Getty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-31oJTdh1w