Tag Archives: Lamentations 1

Daily Bible Study

August 25, 2024 Bible Study — Lamenting the Suffering of Those Who Refuse to Listen to God’s Word

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Lamentations 1-2.

I write this every year, but I don’t like covering Lamentations because it is rather depressing.  My focus is going to be on what the writer says in chapter two verse 11.  He writes this book of lamentations because his people have been destroyed. Everyone he cares about has suffered, and most of them have died.  Which explains why we must speak God’s words to those we care about, because if they continue to ignore His commands they too will suffer greatly.  If we cannot convince them to listen to God’s Spirit, they will suffer for their sins.  Of course, Jeremiah, who we think authored this book, spent his life telling the people of Jerusalem and Judah God’s words.  He tried to convince them to turn from their sins, but they would not listen to him.  So, even if we do our best to convince people to turn to God, they might not do so, but at least we will have tried.

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

Daily Bible Study

August 25, 2023 Bible Study — Do We Expose the Sins That Will Lead Those Around Us Into Suffering?

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Lamentations 1-2.

I always struggle with the Book of Lamentations because it seems so unremittingly despondent.   Today I saw something a bit different.  In the middle of lamenting the suffering of the people of Jerusalem, the writer talks about the failure of its prophets to point out their sin and call them to repentance.  So, if like me, you see an echo of what Isaiah and Jeremiah had to say about Israel and Judah in today’s society, then we need to ask ourselves if we are like the prophets to whom the writer refers.  As I read the Old Testament prophets condemning the sins of Israel and Judah, I see  our society committing the same sins, and I see how those sins are destroying our society just as the prophets said they were destroying Israel and Judah.

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

Daily Bible Study

August 25, 2022 Bible Study — Calling Our Friends To The Lord Before We Have To Mourn That They Never Knew Him

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Lamentations 1-2.

The prophet, likely Jeremiah, laments the terrible fate of Jerusalem and her people.  He tells us those we counted friend in our sins will abandon us when the price comes due.  We must turn from our sins when we have the opportunity, because the day will come when everything we valued is destroyed.  Listen to the prophets who warn us to turn from our sins rather than to those who tell us what we want to hear, that all is well.  I struggle with this: am I one of those who needs to turn from their sins? Or, am I one of those prophets who fail to expose the sins of others?  Am I failing my friends when I avoid hurting their feelings instead of warning them of the damage they do themselves with their sins?

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

Daily Bible Study

August 25, 2021 Bible Study — Are We Like The False Prophets Who Failed To Call Out the Sins of Jerusalem?

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Lamentations 1-2.

The prophet mourns over the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of her people.  I am unsure what lessons we should take from this passage.  The passage laments the prophets who made false and misleading prophecies, who failed to expose the sins of the people of Jerusalem.  Those prophets were accessories in the guilt of bringing this suffering on to the people of Jerusalem.  Let us not be complicit in the sins of the people around us, and the suffering they will experience because of them, in a similar manner.  Certainly, there are many “prophets” today who not only refuse to expose the sins of our society, but encourage people to commit them.  God will not overlook the sins of such prophets, let us faithfully call people to worship and obey God.

When

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

Daily Bible Study

August 25, 2020 Bible Study Better To Listen To God Today Than To Live With The Regrets

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 1-2.

Lamentations is difficult for me.  Instead of warning people to change their ways to avoid God’s judgement it expresses the sorrow of those who have experienced that judgement.  Of course, that is somewhat the point of this book, sin will eventually lead us to a place where our suffering will be intense.   Additionally, there is a secondary point, or perhaps it is the main point and the previous is the secondary one.  If God destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, and devastated the people of Israel, what will He do to us if we do not listen to His commands?

Daily Bible Study

August 25, 2019 Bible Study — Sorrow Awaits Those Who Turn Away From God

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 1-2.

Here the prophet, generally thought to be Jeremiah, laments the destruction of Jerusalem.  The prophet writes of how beautiful Jerusalem had been and how it has been devastated.  However, he warns everyone that Jerusalem’s devastation resulted from the sins of her people.  They had given no thought to the consequences of their action and lived for the moment; sinning without fear of what would happen later.  They listened to prophets who told them what they wanted to hear rather than those who spoke God’s word.  The people thought that because the Temple was there that God would never allow the city to fall.  They turned from God to make friends with other nations (Note: this does not necessarily mean that it was wrong for them to make friends with those nations.  The wrong was in turning from God to do so).  However, when God brought home the consequences of their sins, none of those nations were willing, or able, to come to their aid.  In all of this Jerusalem, and the Kingdom of Judah, are object lessons for all nations and peoples.  If you turn from God and sin against Him when His judgement comes none will stand by you to offer you aid.

Daily Bible Study

August 25, 2018 Bible Study — If We Love Our Neighbors We Will Mourn Over Their Suffering

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 1-2.

    The last few days my blog entries have been short. I suspect that the same will be true today. I find Lamentations to be a difficult part of the Bible to read and comment on. Today’s passage called on the people of God to cry out to God about their suffering, suffering which they had brought upon themselves. Part of what makes this passage hard for me to comment on is that it speaks of corporate guilt and suffering, suffering which is experienced by all the members of a group because most of its members had sinned. I find this difficult because I generally look for things we can apply to ourselves as individuals rather than things which apply to a group, since we do not have control over anyone’s actions other than our own. However, this passage makes it clear that we cannot just look the other way when other people sin, because God will hold us accountable (there is actually a good message on how this works in Ezekiel). We need to express our love for those around us by warning them of the suffering which will result from their sin.
    I wrote in the previous paragraph about our responsibility to call out others for their sins. However, the writer here reminds us that often times we do worse than fail to point out sins, we tell people that their sins are actually service to God. Rather than warn people we tell them that all will be well. If we fail to warn our friends and neighbors of the consequences of their sins we will suffer right along with them. If we love our neighbors as God commands, we will mourn similar to this writer over their suffering. More than that, we will mourn now over the suffering which we foresee if they do not change their ways.