I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Lamentations
3-5.

    Chapter three appears to be written by a man who is suffering clinical depression. It is someone who was thrown into depression by genuine hardship and suffering. Despite feeling like God is not, and will not, listen to his prayers he has faith that God will answer his prayers. The writer is confident that if he confesses his sins and turns from them to God that God will indeed hear his prayers and relieve his suffering. He acknowledges that this is not a quick fix, that we must be patient, continuing to have faith that God will indeed rescue us while we faithfully wait for God to act. If we turn from our sins to God, He will punish those who unjustly plot against us. The writer felt that he was unjustly a victim of those he perceived as his enemies, but he did not strike out against them. Instead, he examined his ways and sought to do what was right, trusting that God would bring him justice against those who wronged him.

    One verse struck me in chapter four. That was verse 15

“Go away! You are unclean!” people cry to them.
“Away! Away! Don’t touch us!”
When they flee and wander about,
people among the nations say,
“They can stay here no longer.”

That seems to summarize the history of the Jewish people since the end of the First Century. One country after another welcomed them in only to a generation or two later violently expel them. It is striking how accurately this foreshadows the future of the Jewish people.