Our culture is perhaps the most unique culture to ever exist on the earth. Our mindset is unlike any other in history. We live in what is called a “Post Modern” world. When Pontus Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” He could never have known that he was echoing the sentiment of an entire culture. Our culture would answer Pilate’s question by saying, “It’s relative, it all depends upon your perspective.” To the post modern mind truth is a human concept, built upon human precepts, which can shift according to perspective. Experience is valued above reason, and any absolute truth is automatically disqualified. The absence of absolute truth has fueled the pursuit of pleasure and self gratification. With so much energy being poured into the pursuit of joy you would think that our culture is the most contented to ever walk the face of the earth. However just the opposite is true. More antidepressants are prescribed by physicians than any other drug. Drugs such as Lexapro, Zoloft and Effexor are in the top twenty of the most prescribed brand name drugs. The truth is that we seem to be a culture that is receiving the wages of sin. Over the last two decades we have seen a sharp increase in drug addiction, alcoholism, child abuse, divorce, rape, suicide and murder. The obvious truth is that our quality of life is not improving, it is getting worse. Despite all the signs we still stand firm in the conviction that happiness can be found apart from God. We continue to pursue the American dream which in reality is turning out to be a nightmare. We need to listen clearly to Jeremiah’s message, for it gives us a timeless warning, “Sin can never deliver what it promises.” God is the only one that can deliver lasting joy and contentment. Let’s open our hearts to see what lessons we can learn from this final chapter of Lamentations.
I. Lamentations five records the prayers of Judah’s survivors for God to remember their plight.
A. The people recount the details of the tragedy that they have experienced.
1. God used the leadership of Moses and Joshua to drive other nations out of the land because of their wickedness, giving it to the Israelites “as their inheritance” but the inheritance has now reverted to its previous inhabitants.
2. He showed himself in the past to be a God who “defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow”, but now he has brought this fate on his own children.
3. The warning of Deuteronomy 28:43–44 has become a reality. They are reduced to paying for their water and wood, as they had been in the Wilderness, rather than using the foreigners in their midst to haul wood and water for them.
4. They were supposed to find peace in the Promised Land but their enemies constantly surround them.
5. They are forced to borrow from their powerful neighbors for food, rather than being the one to lend to other nations.
B. The people admit that their tragedy was a result of pursuing a life without God.
1. The sentiment of verse 7 suggests that they are still “in denial” to some degree about their present state. This is not their fault; their ancestors sinned, but they are suffering for it.
2. It reflects a common human reaction. Somebody else’s crimes always seem worse than our own. Some other car was going faster than ours, but the traffic cop has pulled us over.
3. There is a momentary turn toward repentance in verse 16. There is a general admission of guilt, but the absence of any specification makes one wonder how clearly they see their sins. Rather than focus on that, they return to the suffocating suffering they endure.
4. The population sensed they were under a divine “woe” because of their sin. Their hearts were sick with sorrow, their eyes darkened by tears because of what had happened.
C. A picture of all those affected by this tragedy.
1. The people express the appalling state of affairs. Foreign servants not even foreign kings rule over them.
2. They are desperate for food, as they face military threats not just in their cities, but in the farthest reaches of the desert.
3. Then they describe how each segment of the nation’s social fabric suffers shame and despair.
a. All women, both married and virgins, have been sexually violated.
b. Neither royal leaders (princes) nor traditional family leaders (elders) are shown the honor they deserve.
c. The boys should be enjoying their youth, but they are being made to do the work of adults.
d. One does not hear the typical sounds of young and old (young men and elders) in city life.
4. There is no joy, no dancing, no wearing of crowns in honor and celebration.
II. The people exalt God’s everlasting authority over all of creation.
A. The poet first anchored his appeal in the truth that Yahweh is enthroned forever.
1. A traditional lament usually moves from complaint to a statement of faith.
2. The Lord is still king, his throne still endures, even though his temple is destroyed.
3. The speakers cannot hold on to this thought. They swing back to despair.
B. The poet then presented his appeal in the form of a question: “Why have you forgotten us forever?”
1. What for God might be a passing moment, for his suffering people can seem like an eternity.
2. So what if the Lord is king? He appears to have forgotten and forsaken his people even while they call on him to “remember” them.
3. This is not something that a good king would do, and it contradicts what the LORD had repeatedly promised he would do.
4. The people cannot help but to wonder if God intends to leave them in this present state of suffering forever.
III. The prayer is closed with a request for forgiveness and restoration.
A. The poet then strengthened his appeal with an attitude of submission.
1. They call on him to restore them, as he has been promising through Jeremiah. He has said that he will “restore” them, but they must “return” to him. Now they say that they will return, if he will restore them.
2. With his faith soaring, the poet next elevated his appeal to request complete restoration of Zion: “Renew our days as of old.”
3. Judah suffered because it refused to return to God. The response of faith is one deep in suffering and pain, oppression and social chaos. For the poet serious questions arose, but the answer was that it was not God’s fault but rather was that of the people.
B. The poet supported his appeal with an oblique reminder of God’s past commitment to his people.
1. Only if God had abandoned his people totally—a thought foreign to all previous revelation—could he fail to intervene on their behalf.
2. The question which they then pose is whether he has rejected them completely. In spite of the people’s words of repentance, the Lord says he is still sending them away. And so, the people are left with the thought — with the haunting question — that the Lord might have rejected them forever.
3. The final verse shows the beginning of a turning in their thinking. Maybe their suffering is justified. Maybe they have been too hasty in their self-evaluations. If the Lord has utterly rejected us, is that unwarranted? Or is it fully within the realm of possibility, based on their lives and the lives of their ancestors? They have aroused his great wrath, and the Lord does not anger easily. It must be for good reason.
4. Being willing to accept that they might really deserve their punishment is the first step in the right direction. It will be almost fifty years before there is any physical indication that his anger has cooled and he is blessing them again.
IV. Hope for a culture experiencing the wages of sin.
A. The book of Lamentations shows this consistently in its exposure of the false trust of the people which had brought such dire judgment upon them.
1. We cannot miss the fact that throughout the tragedy of Lamentations we see God’s love and compassion weaved throughout.
2. These are the things that endure, and which remain the hope of Christians, who have seen them revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
3. We need to come to the realization that true peace and joy can only be found through obedience.
B. When we are being forced to endure the consequences of sin we can really understand what the people of Judah were feeling.
1. As we have seen throughout this series we all struggle with those feelings that God has abandoned us.
2. We may have reached the point that we think that there is no way that God can use us in His service.
3. God will not turn His back on the people that have truly put their trust in Him because His desire is to restore His people, not reject them.
4. In fact His goal is to use His people in service not ignore them.
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ” (Luke 15:11-32)
Play Music Video by Casting Crowns: “Does Anybody Hear Her?”
