SCRIPTURE: LAMENTATION 5
DESCRIPTION OF THE SITUATIONS OF ISRAEL:
- Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens, our homes to foreigners. (v. 2)
- We have become orphans and fatherless, our mothers like widows. (v. 3)
- We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price. (v. 4)
- We are pursued at our heels; we are weary and find no rest. (v. 5)
- We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread. (v. 6)
- We bear the punishment of our father’s sin. (v. 7)
- We become slaves without freedom. (v. 8)
- We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the desert. (v. 9)
- Our skin is hot as an oven, feverish from hunger. (v. 10)
- Women have been ravished in Zion, and virgins in the towns of Judah. (v. 11)
- Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect. (v. 12)
- Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood. (v. 13)
- The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped their music. (v. 14)
- Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning. (v. 15)
- The crown has fallen from our head for we have sinned. (v. 16)
Jeremiah was asking God to restore them and renew their old days so that they can return to their homeland.
THOUGHTS:
Jeremiah was praying to God and describing their reproach. They have lost their freedom, joy, inheritance and crown. He was asking God not to forsake them but have mercy to His people.
Lamentation gives us a portrait of the bitter suffering the people of Jerusalem experienced because of their sins. Gods turned his back on them and every material goal they pursued collapsed. However, God did not totally abandon them. Despite of their sinful past, God will give them hope and retore them. In times of our grief and suffering, let us turn towards God for restoration.