Lamentations 2

To simply have a good cry over our grievous situations is not the definition of healthy grief.  Nor is it what the Bible calls “godly sorrow” (2 Cor. 7:10).  This second poem in the Lamentations of Jeremiah goes beyond tears, and even goes further than the good theology of the words, “The LORD is righteous” (1:18).

If you read the entire chapter you must certainly have noticed the clear recognition that God Himself destroyed Israel and Jerusalem and the temple with its worship.  In the NKJV the words “the Lord”, “He” and “His” occur no less than 38 times.  It was “His” anger, wrath, fierce anger and right hand that did this; that brought all this destruction and misery.  The Lord “swallowed up and has not pitied” (v2); the Lord “was like an enemy” (v5); the Lord “has caused” this (v6); the LORD “has purposed to destroy” (v8).  

God did this, Jeremiah says.  He does not lay it at the feet of Nebuchadnezzar.  The enemy nations say, “We have swallowed her up!  Surely this is the day we have waited for” (2:16).  But the fact is, “The LORD has done what He purposed; He has fulfilled His word which He commanded in days of old. … He has caused an enemy to rejoice over you; He has exalted the horn of your adversaries” (v17).  

This is not how we usually think and speak in times of affliction.  Perhaps we think that we must not speak evil of God, that we must protect Him in some way by blaming our troubles on everyone around us.  But failure to acknowledge God’s hand is to reject the truth that will truly heal you.  The Jews most recent “holocaust” is generally blamed on Hitler and the Nazis.  But to fail to see that what happened was the fulfillment of God’s warning to His people is to miss the whole point.  The great suffering of the Jewish people throughout history has been the result of transgression against God.

We must bring this home to our personal situations, every one of them.  We may or may not know how or what God is working, but in every situation we must acknowledge that He is working!  Notice in Lamentations 2 that Jeremiah does not say God “permitted” the destruction.  He says God “has done” and “caused” (v6).  The verbs are active and intentional.  And again, Jeremiah is not blaming God; He is acknowledging God.  

Do we understand that in every situation God is intentionally working?  I beg you; don’t get philosophical at this point.  We often get into deep, unending discussions about God’s role in suffering.  It is not necessary for us to understand the ins and outs of the nature and work of God.  It is not even necessary for us to know just what God is trying to accomplish.  But we must believe in a Sovereign God who is not off on vacation while we run our own lives.  

As you shed tears of sorrow, believe in “the God who is there!”  Your sickness, your poverty, your estrangement, your pain is His work in your life.  Trust Him!