Lamentations 1

The Book of Lamentations was also written by Jeremiah, written after the burning of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple.  Tradition says he did this while in a cave or grotto, just around the corner from the outcropping called Gordon’s Calvary near the Garden Tomb north of old Jerusalem.  That cave had a view of the temple area and much of the city in Jeremiah’s day.

The 5 chapters are acrostic poems, using the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet to begin the successive verses.  Ch. 3 contains 66 verses with 22 3-verse stanzas.  Jeremiah’s grieving experience is instructive for us in how we grieve.

The first poem (Ch. 1) reveals the depth of grief over the destruction of the city and the temple.  There are several references to tears, weeping, sighing and sorrow (e.g. v2,11,16,21, etc.).  This is the expected response to heavy trials in our lives.  We cannot hold back the tears.  It was the experience of Job (Job 16:20) and the Psalmist (e.g. Ps. 6:6; 42:3).  Genuine tears are never worked up; they come involuntarily as we consider our trial and pain.  The tears come from deep within: my soul is troubles; my heart is overturned within me (v20).  And often the grief at that moment is inconsolable: But no one comforts me (v21).  So remember, your sorrow is not so great that God does not understand it.

Grief can become unbearable and deep-seated if we are not careful.  Tucked into this chapter are references to truth that show us Jeremiah’s healthy sorrow.

First, he recognizes, Jerusalem has sinned gravely; therefore she has become vile (v8; cf. v22).  Grief and self-pity are not the same.  One is natural and has a godly use in our lives; the other is destructive to us physically and spiritually.  You may remember that Jesus Himself wept on at least 3 occasions of which we are aware; each of them was related to sin.  In fact, all sorrow in this world is related to sin either as the direct result of our sin (as was the case for Jerusalem) or as the result of the entrance of sin into the world in Eden (Gen. 3).  Jesus wept when Jerusalem would not turn to Him, when Lazarus was dead and in Gethsemanae when He anticipated bearing our sin at Golgotha.  

Second, Jeremiah makes the confession that must be made in all our sorrow: The LORD is righteous (v18).  Godly people in the time of the Babylonian exile always came to this conclusion (Ezra 9:13; Neh. 9:33f; Dan. 9:7, 14).  In our sorrow we must not go far down the path of blaming God.  If we do not see our trials in the truth we will soon be trapped in an incurable bitterness toward God.  The history of mankind makes it clear that all of God’s creation was good.  It only came to involve affliction and trouble when our sin came on the scene.  Even in affliction let us worship God in spirit and truth.

He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He. (Deut. 32:4)