(Disclaimer: If you are looking for a typical sermon series this is not it. Worship can take on many forms. This series is a reading through the Book of Lamentations.)
INTRODUCTION: There are times when we all lament – or need to lament. There are times when we have walked down the wrong path – and have found at the end of it – a dead end. At the end of the road we cry out, “What have I done? How could I have been so foolish? How could I have been so stupid? How could I have NOT listened to my Father and followed His advice?” As you reach the dead end – you look back and reflect of what you have done to get you to that lifeless spot. You cry out in your desperation – you cry out in your foolishness – you cry out in your sorrow. The book of Lamentations is a book of crying out. The young bride has turned from the love of her husband and now she cries out – she feels the groom’s anger.
Letters Of Lament – Reading #3
How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion With a cloud in His anger! He has cast from heaven to earth The glory of Israel, And has not remembered His footstool In the day of His anger. Lamentations 2:1 (NASV)
I am covered with a cloud of anger. The storm clouds roll in. It becomes dark – windy and cold. The temperature drops in a matter of minutes – for my Lord is angry with me. His anger comes like a Kansas tornado. I no longer hold the position that I once had – I have been cast out. My glory has turned to sackcloth and ashes. My Groom is so angry with me.
The Lord has swallowed up; He has not spared All the habitations of Jacob. In His wrath He has thrown down The strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down to the ground; He has profaned the kingdom and its princes. Lamentations 2:2 (NASV)
The Lord has swallowed and I am consumed. I have been chewed up and spit out. He has not spared me at all. Where I thought I had strength – all I find is weakness. Where I thought there was hope – all I find is despair. I am brought low – I sit in the dust.
In fierce anger He has cut off All the strength of Israel; He has drawn back His right hand From before the enemy. And He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire Consuming round about. Lamentations 2:3 (NASV)
All my strength has been drained. In His anger He turned His back on me. I feel so totally alone – I feel so totally helpless. His shelter of protection is gone. My heart is burned by the burning – consuming fire of His anger. What have I done?
He has bent His bow like an enemy; He has set His right hand like an adversary And slain all that were pleasant to the eye; In the tent of the daughter of Zion He has poured out His wrath like fire. Lamentations 2:4 (NASV)
He has taken an arrow and shot it through my heart. I have become like an enemy to Him. Those who we get close to – can hurt us the most. How close I was to Him. How could I have been so foolish – to hurt Him so badly? Against You and You alone have I sinned. His anger burns my heart like a consuming fire. He will consume me.
The Lord has become like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all its palaces, He has destroyed its strongholds And multiplied in the daughter of Judah Mourning and moaning. Lamentations 2:5 (NASV)
My True Love has become like an enemy to me. Those things that I had placed my security in – my hope in – are now unstable. I thought that I was strong – but now I find that I am weak. My heart groans and moans within me. There seems to be no end to my mourning – there is no end to my tears. What have I done?
And He has violently treated His tabernacle like a garden booth; He has destroyed His appointed meeting place. The LORD has caused to be forgotten The appointed feast and Sabbath in Zion, And He has despised king and priest In the indignation of His anger. Lamentations 2:6 (NASV)
My True Love has smashed my heart as if it were nothing more than a shack. Our special days – our wedding day – and anniversaries are forgotten – those times that should be days of rejoicing – are long gone – they have nothing more than a distant memory.
The Lord has rejected His altar, He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has delivered into the hand of the enemy The walls of her palaces. They have made a noise in the house of the LORD As in the day of an appointed feast. Lamentations 2:7 (NASV)
My True Love has turned His back on me – what have I done? Those places we held as sacred – have lost their meaning. I have been abandoned. My false friends come over and party. But there is no joy in my heart. My heart is now empty and cold.
The LORD determined to destroy The wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out a line, He has not restrained His hand from destroying, And He has caused rampart and wall to lament; They have languished together. Lamentations 2:8 (NASV)
All those things that I counted as special are gone. Those things that we cherished together are no longer considered as special. The intimacy that we had has disappeared. The wall – the trust that was between us has been broken. The trust has been shattered – will it ever be built back up again? Will He ever trust me? Can He?
Her gates have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; The law is no more. Also, her prophets find No vision from the LORD. Lamentations 2:9 (NASV)
The relationship between us is now changed. The intimate times we had together – who can restore them? Is there a door that we can go through to find them again? Is there a gate someplace that will lead us to that garden of that pleasure? When I broke His trust – those things that were so special came rushing out – will they ever be recovered? Will I ever see joy like that again? O Lord – return to me the joy of my salvation. Return to me the intimacy that we once had.
The elders of the daughter of Zion Sit on the ground, they are silent. They have thrown dust on their heads; They have girded themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem Have bowed their heads to the ground. Lamentations 2:10 (NASV)
Where I thought I was wise – now I sit in silence. The wisdom of man will not accomplish the things of God. My wisdom turned out to be foolishness. I sit in the dust and my clothing is nothing but filthy rags. My righteousness is no righteousness at all. My purity is not pure. My holiness is not holy – it will not make me whole. What have I done? Against You and You alone have I sinned. Why did I decide to travel this dead end road? Look at where it has brought me.
My eyes fail because of tears, My spirit is greatly troubled; My heart is poured out on the earth Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, When little ones and infants faint In the streets of the city. Lamentations 2:11 (NASV)
I can not see – because of the tears that fill my eyes. They have blinded my sight. My spirit is a dust storm within me – dry and barren. My stomach is tied in knots. My heart is broken in two. All of my hopes – all of my dreams – are orphaned. They are nothing but fainting memories.
They say to their mothers, "Where is grain and wine?" As they faint like a wounded man In the streets of the city, As their life is poured out On their mothers’ bosom. Lamentations 2:12 (NASV)
My hopes and my dreams have no power – they have no strength – there is nothing to feed them – there is nothing to sustain them. Since there is no hope – I perish. I am poured out like water – I am wounded by self inflicted wounds – I perish in the open.
How shall I admonish you? To what shall I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what shall I liken you as I comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is as vast as the sea; Who can heal you? Lamentations 2:13 (NASV)
Who can heal me? Who can give me words of comfort? No one has suffered like this – no one has looked back on their self ruin as I have. I am a vase of crystal that has been shattered. Who can put the pieces back together again? My ruin is deeper and wider than the ocean. Who can heal me? Is there anyone out there who can help?
Your prophets have seen for you False and foolish visions; And they have not exposed your iniquity So as to restore you from captivity, But they have seen for you false and misleading oracles. Lamentations 2:14 (NASV)
My friends have given me false advise – their wisdom is foolishness. My culture tells me that sex and love are the same thing – believe me – I have found that this is not true. I have been made captive by this false belief. I have played the harlot and look at where I am now. The things of this world do not accomplish the will of God. Don’t travel the road of stupidity as I have – it only leads to a dead end.
All who pass along the way Clap their hands in derision at you; They hiss and shake their heads At the daughter of Jerusalem, "Is this the city of which they said, ’The perfection of beauty, A joy to all the earth’?" Lamentations 2:15 (NASV)
I have become the talk of the town. My story is in the tabloids. As people go through the checkout stands they see my picture on the front page. The headlines read, “Beauty and Boldness has turned to Rags and Ruin”. They laugh – they mock – and with good cause.
All your enemies Have opened their mouths wide against you; They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, "We have swallowed her up! Surely this is the day for which we waited; We have reached it, we have seen it." Lamentations 2:16 (NASV)
All of those who dislike me – gloat in my ruin. They open their mouths in gossip – they make up stories – they compound my misery. They say, “Well she just go what she deserved. I could see it coming. Nobody needs feel sorry of her. I knew it was going to happen.”
The LORD has done what He purposed; He has accomplished His word Which He commanded from days of old. He has thrown down without sparing, And He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you; He has exalted the might of your adversaries. Lamentations 2:17 (NASV)
My Husband has always been honest with me. My True Love has always told me the truth. He said, “You will reap what you sew.” His words have come true. I have heard these words from the day that I met Him. He has always instructed me for my own good. He has always wanted me to walk a path that leads to happiness and life. Now I have traveled the road of foolishness and have reached the dead end – where can I go from here? Where can I turn?
Their heart cried out to the Lord, "O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let your tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief, Let your eyes have no rest.” Lamentations 2:18 (NASV)
My heart cries out to my True Love. “I need you. My defenses are gone. My tears do not end. Help me. Rescue me!”
"Arise, cry aloud in the night At the beginning of the night watches; Pour out your heart like water Before the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to Him For the life of your little ones Who are faint because of hunger At the head of every street." Lamentations 2:19 (NASV)
I cannot sleep. I am awake from dusk to dawn. My heart is poured out like water. Save me – rescue me. Only to You can I call for help. Only You can pull out of this pit. Only You can rescue me from this dead end street. Give me hope – give me comfort – show Your mercy – forgive me.
See, O LORD, and look! With whom have You dealt thus? Should women eat their offspring, The little ones who were born healthy? Should priest and prophet be slain In the sanctuary of the Lord? Lamentations 2:20 (NASV)
Look on me – O Lover of my soul. Will You leave me in such misery? I know I deserve it. I have brought this on to myself – do not take it away till I have learned my lesson. But will it stay until all my hope is gone? Help me to devour my self pride and boastfulness. Help me to learn true humility. May I learn that my self holiness is not Your holiness – that my self righteousness in not Your righteousness. Take away my false religious idols.
On the ground in the streets Lie young and old; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered, not sparing. Lamentations 2:21 (NASV)
Let nothing of my false securities be left. Let me not hold on to false hopes and false dreams. Take them and destroy them. Totally wiped out – slaughtered. Let my hope be rooted in You – for better is the cleansing now – than on the Day of Destruction.
You called as in the day of an appointed feast My terrors on every side; And there was no one who escaped or survived In the day of the LORD’S anger. Those whom I bore and reared, My enemy annihilated them. Lamentations 2:22 (NASV)
For on the Day of Destruction – You will hold a great feast and there will be terrors on every side. If I turn to the left or turn to the right – I will always face terror. Who can escape it – who can run away from it? For all have sinned and fall short of Your glory. Prepare my heart and my soul for that day. Show me mercy O Lord. Show me forgiveness. Prepare me for the day of Your coming. Amen.
