Letters of Lament - Reading #3

(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