A Christian's Guide to Studying and Applying the Old Testament
Text: Lamentations 3:37-66 (NKJV)
37 Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass,
When the Lord has not commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That woe and well-being proceed?
39 Why should a living man complain,
A man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the LORD;
41 Let us lift our hearts and hands
To God in heaven.
42 We have transgressed and rebelled;
You have not pardoned.
43 You have covered Yourself with anger
And pursued us;
You have slain and not pitied.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud,
That prayer should not pass through.
45 You have made us an offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.
46 All our enemies
Have opened their mouths against us.
47 Fear and a snare have come upon us,
Desolation and destruction.
48 My eyes overflow with rivers of water
For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 My eyes flow and do not cease,
Without interruption,
50 Till the LORD from heaven
Looks down and sees.
51 My eyes bring suffering to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.
52 My enemies without cause
Hunted me down like a bird.
53 They silenced my life in the pit
And threw stones at me.
54 The waters flowed over my head;
I said, “I am cut off!”
55 I called on Your name, O LORD,
From the lowest pit.
56 You have heard my voice:
“Do not hide Your ear
From my sighing, from my cry for help.”
57 You drew near on the day I called on You,
And said, “Do not fear!”
58 O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul;
You have redeemed my life.
59 O LORD, You have seen how I am wronged;
Judge my case.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
All their schemes against me.
61 You have heard their reproach, O LORD,
All their schemes against me,
62 The lips of my enemies
And their whispering against me all the day.
63 Look at their sitting down and their rising up;
I am their taunting song.
64 Repay them, O LORD,
According to the work of their hands.
65 Give them a veiled heart;
Your curse be upon them!
66 In Your anger,
Pursue and destroy them
From under the heavens of the LORD.
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
This passage is so dense with theology and neat things to learn, I am going to take a more systematic approach to it today.
Verse 37: Man cannot do anything without permission from God. Conversely, when He declares that something is to be a certain way, man cannot stop God. As I cannot go out and stop an earthquake in progress, God is all-powerful.
Verse 38: The things that we perceive as bad are permitted by God, and in some cases, directly sent by God. As the destruction of Jerusalem, God does use bad things to judge people. Since before man sinned there was no death or such badness, the antecedent to anything we perceive as bad is actually human sin.
Verse 39: As long as we exist (thus a logical "always"), we have no right to complain about the punishment for our sins. As a guilty murderer should have no right to oppose imprisonment, we have no right to complain about judgment for sins.
Verses 40-41: This is repentance in the general sense- turning our minds from our sinful ways and to God.
Verse 42: Here we go- confession. Taking responsibility for our actions and admitting guilt. Essentially, entering a "Guilty" plea before God, the Judge of the Universe.
Verse 45: As refuse (trash/sewage) and an imperfect part rejected, so was Judah in the Middle East. What a role reversal, from special treatment as God's chosen people to a pile of rejects. Still, there is hope in the promises of God for these people to be restored to their former place, although they were still technically God's chosen people.
Verses 55-57: God hears the prophet's prayers and brings comfort to Him. We should not sit around praying and listening for an audible reply from God (as we do not have that sort of communication as the Old Testament prophets); however, we should pray diligently. That is a key here. Jeremiah talks for verses, and really chapters, about pouring his heart out to God, yet it is not until here that God replies. It is not until Jeremiah is in that lowest pit that God replies to show Himself the most mighty in rescuing Him. This is not cruel, as one might perceive, as Jeremiah is only there because of sin. Essentially, he (and Judah) was digging his own pit.
Verses 58-59: I believe that this is a reflection of the plurality of the personhood of God. Not necessarily the Trinity revealed yet, but evidence that God is one with separate, distinct persons. Let's look to the New Testament to help understand what I am saying. First, we accept that God the Father is the judge. Would the judge fight for the cause of the defendant? No. I believe that this is a glimpse of Jesus (God the Son) as seen in Hebrews 7:25. He is out intercessor as High Priest before God the Father as Judge. This passage does not exclude the idea of the Holy Spirit, who based on New Testament revelation, does play a role in this situation. Romans 8:26-27 show that the Holy Spirit also intercedes for the believer through prayer. Further picturing Jesus, Jeremiah stated that this intercessor redeemed his sole (i.e. paid the price for it). From the New Testament, we know that Jesus's relationship far transcends that of a defense attorney as He substituted Himself for us in judgment so that we could be redeemed.
Applications:
Understand that all bad things you experience in life are a result, however direct or indirect, to our sin. Each time you find something frustrating or hurting you, it should cause you to reflect on your sinfulness.
Thank God that He is both a fair judge and the loving God who paid for the redemption of your soul!
Accept Jesus as your intercessor before God the Father as Judge. In other words, accept His free gift of redemption and worship Him as your Savior.
Other Studies from Lamentations
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