Lamentations 4

In this crucial chapter, the path of grief comes to the essential place of confession.  First, in this journey, there has been the recognition of the pain of loss, a willingness to weep and feel the pain (Lam. 1).  Then there has been the realization that God has been at work (Lam. 2).  I must bow before Him, allowing Him to be God in my life.  Then, out of hopelessness has come hope (Lam. 3).  The prophet has seen through the lense of Biblical truth.  The pain is still there.  But he has begun to see God’s goodness and faithfulness in such a way that he can instruct his soul to think God’s thoughts.

These truths are repeated in this chapter.  Grief is expressed in the opening verses.  Material value is gone (v1) as is human value (v2).  They are neglected children, like the ostrich that lays its egg and leaves it to hatch on its own (v3-4).  The famous are now like street people (v5).  The famine resulted in extreme degradation of humanity where even women ate their children (v6-10).  When people reject God humanity suffers.  “He who seeks his own life shall lose it.”  

The truth of God’s sovereign hand in the tragedy is also noted (v11-12).  His wrath has done something even Judah’s enemies thought impossible.  “It is a fearful thing to fall in to the hands of the living God.”

Now Jeremiah comes to confess the sins of Judah.  He himself had maintained his integrity through all this.  Yet he identifies with his people, the mark of the true and Good Shepherd.  The first sin is the sin of the spiritual leaders, the prophets and priests that shed innocent blood (v13-17).  Several times the sin of lying prophets and priests was addressed.  But in the end it was not only a sin of the leaders; it was a sin of the people who trusted in them and so rejected God’s word.  In other words, they rejected God, the fountain of life (Jer. 2:13).

The second sin was the reliance on Egypt for deliverance (v17-20).  And again, both the people (v17) and the leadership (v20) were guilty of this dependence on those who could not help.  Thus Jeremiah acknowledges that they had built broken cisterns that didn’t hold water (Jer. 2:13). 

The confession ends on a hopeful note, something that did not happen in the opening chapters.  He is able to trust that God will judge the enemies of His people (v21-22).  And in the next chapter he will be able to speak of restoration.

Let us not lose the significance of this entire journey in the Lamentations.  Confession is not simply an “I’m sorry” uttered so as to move on.  It sees the situation I am in through the truth of God’s word.  This is the only way we can return to a relationship of God whereby we worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24).  We must face up to sin and guilt.  We must acknowledge not only God’s hand but the right of God to have a hand in our lives, even the heavy hand of discipline.  Failure to do so does not bring the expectation of hope but rather the expectation of another session in His woodshed until we are fit for His glory!