Lamentations 3:21-36, Are You Angry at God? (4)

We have noted Jehoiakim’s hard heartedness in the face of disappointment.  But what about Jeremiah?  He too was disappointed by God’s judgment on Jerusalem.  As the city was burning tradition tells us Jeremiah sat in a cave to the north of Jerusalem, with the city in full view, and wrote the Lamentations.  (In the 1915 photo of Skull Hill, the traditional “Jeremiah’s Grotto” is the cave to the right of the skull face.)  In the Lamentations Jeremiah both lifts his grief to the Lord and works through that grief.

One of the most profound things Jeremiah comes to grips with is that, The LORD is righteous (Lam. 1:18).  In the issue of men’s anger towards God this is always the bottom line.  There can be no resolution without a confession that God has not erred.

Another blessing for us from the Lord, through Jeremiah, is the record of things that Jeremiah remembered.  Lam. 3:21 says, This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.  What he recalls has been summarized in eight statements by Matthew Henry that are a constant blessing to me personally.  I will put those statements here.

1.    That, bad as things are, it is owing to the mercy of God that they are not worse, v22.

2.    That even in the depth of their affliction they still have experience of the tenderness of the divine pity (compassion) and the truth of the divine promise, v23.

3.    That God is, and ever will be, the all-sufficient happiness of his people, and they have chosen him and depend upon him to be such, v24.

4.    That those who deal with God will find it is not vain to trust in him; for He is good to those who do so (v25); and those that do so will find it good for them (v26).

5.    That afflictions are really good for us, and, if we bear them aright, will work very much for our good.  It is not only good to hope and wait for the salvation, but it is good to be under the trouble in the mean time (v27-30).  It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth; it is good to quietly, humbly, and meekly wait under our afflictions.

6.    That God will graciously return to his people with seasonable comforts according to the time that he has afflicted them, v31-32.

7.    That, when God does cause grief, it is for wise and holy ends, and he takes not delight in our calamities, v33.

8.    That though he makes use of men as his hand, or rather instruments in his hand, for the correcting of his people, yet he is far from being pleased with the injustice of their proceedings and the wrong they do them, v34-36.

(If you want to pursue Jeremiah and Lamentations further, we have posted notes in our blog: Jeremiah, Aug. 9-Sept. 16, 2014; and Lamentations, including comments on these eight statements, Sept 17-25, 2014.)

On the matter of bitterness and anger towards God, I want to end this post with a New Testament passage that relates to this issue.  May God enable us to trust His righteousness in all His dealings with us. 

Eph. 4:31-32: Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.