Lost Books of the Bible: Lamentations
Today is our last sermon in our series
on the lost, or misplaced, or seldom read books of the Bible. I was talking
with Eric before I started this sermon series and I was telling him what I was
going to do, and I said, “We’re going to talk about Philemon, Hosea, Esther,
and Lamentations.” And he said, “Lamentations?! But that’s poetry!” I said,
“Yeah, but all scripture is God breathed, and useful for teaching, rebuking
correcting and training and righteousness.” He said, “I know, but it’s poetry!”
And he’s so right. Lamentations is, of
all the books we’ve talked about and maybe of all the books in the Bible,
Lamentations is the least read. I don’t have any stats to back that up, but
it’s just a guess. Nobody reads Lamentations. It’s found right after Jeremiah
and before Ezekiel.
And let me tell something else girly
about Lamentations, besides the fact that it’s poetry. Not only is it poetry,
but if you’ll notice, all five chapters, with the exception of chapter 3, are
twenty-two verses long. Chapter 3 is sixty-six verses long, which is three
times twenty-two if you aren’t very good at math. Know why? Well, there are
twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and each verse begins with a
different consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It’s an acrostic! Not only
is it poetry, but it’s the kind of poetry that your second-grade teacher makes
you write! I remember like back in elementary school writing acrostics on
construction paper. You know, like, “A is for apples that I love to eat. B is
for bugs that eat holes in my apple. C is for cider, which you make from
apples. D is for…” You get the idea. Of all poetry, maybe acrostics are the
worst.
But that’s what Lamentations is. It’s
an acrostic, though you can tell in the English translation, but now that I’ve
told you, I’ll be it bothers you. Look, I don’t know why it was written this
way. Tradition holds that Jeremiah wrote it, though no one knows for sure. I
don’t know why he wrote it as an acrostic the way he did. But…Eric…all
scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and
training in righteousness. So, as soldiers of Christ, we forge ahead and read
it anyway, and try to glean something useful from Lamentations.
Lamentations, like Esther, is set
during the time of the exile. I’ll bet you had no idea how important the exile
is in Hebrew culture and in the culture of the Old Testament. Unless you
understand the exile, most of the Old Testament doesn’t make any sense. I’m not
talking about the exodus, that was first. That was when the children of Jacob
eventually moved from the promised land to
The exile comes much later. Around 587
BC. After King David and Solomon and all the kings. After
This is one of the most formative
events in all of Jewish history. It is the occasion for most of the writing of
the minor prophets in the Old Testament. It is huge! It is a tragedy beyond
measure! Think about it: God had promised this land to the offspring of Abraham
way back in Genesis. They survived slavery in
This is a tragedy beyond measure. And
the book of Lamentations comes out of this tragedy. It is poem, and it’s about
a man, the author, possibly Jeremiah, dealing with this tragedy. He’s dealing
with God. If you’ve ever been through a tragedy, this book is for you. If
you’ve ever gone through a hard time, this book is for you. If you’ve ever been
mad at God or blamed God for something, this book is for you. These are the
kinds of conversations that people have with God, but Jeremiah takes it a step
further, and he walks through his grief and through his issues with God.
I’m going to skip around a little bit,
it’s five chapters so we won’t read the whole thing, but I want to read some
parts out of this book to give you an idea of what this guy is feeling as he’s
writing these words, and what we can learn from it. I’m going to start with
Lamentations chapter 1 verses 3 and 4. You may want to open your Bibles and
follow along. Lamentations 1:3 and 4 says this: “Judah has gone into exile with
suffering and hard servitude; she lives now among the nations, and finds no
resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her
distress. The roads to
Have you ever been there? In that
place where you feel like God, your comforter is far from you? In those
terrible, awful moments in life when you just feel so alone? Does anyone care?
Does anyone care that you are hurting the way you are? And that’s what this
first chapter is talking about. The pain, the sadness, the despair, the
mourning. These people are in a valley. They are in a low place in their lives.
Now a good, Godly man like Jeremiah,
what do you think he’d say next? “Well, times are tough now, but things will
get better! God is working for our good somehow!” That’s the right, Christian
response, isn’t it? Everything’s going to be alright! The sun will come up
tomorrow! But no! That’s not where Jeremiah goes next. Listen to these words of
chapter two verse one: “How the Lord in his anger has humiliated daughter
Do you hear what’s happening here?
Jeremiah’s not going the road of “Everything will be alright. God is in
control!” No way! He’s saying, “Look, this terrible stuff is happening, and
God, it’s your fault! You are to blame! You are the one doing this to us!” He
makes no bones about who is the cause of the destruction of
Last weekend I went to a concert in
And I think he’s right on. Look,
folks, I think we’ve got this skewed notion from like the cartoons where
there’s an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other and the two side are
battling it out and the devil is always throwing rocks at us and the angel is
turning them into flower petals before they hit us. I don’t think it works that
way. That’s not how Lamentations reads. That’s not how the rest of my Bible
reads. My Bible says that God created and is in control of the entire universe.
My Bible says that God can count the hairs on our heads. My Bible says that
there is nowhere you can go where you can escape from the love – or wrath – of
God.
Here’s the problem: we want to define
what we think God ought to look like. And we think God ought to be just sitting
up on some cloud, showering blessings on us no matter what and answering our
prayers to make sure everything goes according to our plan. That’s a pretty
picture, but that’s not who God is. And this is where people have a problem.
Look, God loves us. But he loves us so
much, that he’s willing to let, and not just let, but sometimes even cause
things that we deem as bad to happen to us. Some of you are not going to like
to hear this stuff, but I’m going to say it anyways. It’s in the Bible, I’m not
making it up. God loves us. And loves he loves to bless us. But guess what:
when we need taken out behind the woodshed, he loves us so much, that he’s willing
to do that, too.
Bart Miller went on to say that he
believes that God has one main goal in mind: to receive the glory that he
deserves. And he’ll use anything and everything to get his glory. Whatever it
takes. I agree with Bart, but I think I’d take it a step further. I think God
has two purposes in mind: to receive the glory he deserves, and to come into a
loving relationship with us. And I fully believe that God will do whatever it
takes to get out attention. Whatever it takes.
Maybe he’s saying, “Look, I’ve tried
to get your attention by blessing you. I’ve blessed you way beyond what you
deserve, and you still ignore me. So now, I’m going to start taking things
away, even if I have to take everything from you until all you have left is me.
Even if it means I need to take your job, your stuff, your family, your health.
I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get you to notice me. Because otherwise,
I could let you sit and lead this charmed life, but if you never notice me,
when this life is over, that’s it. There’s no saving you once you’re dead. So
I’ll do whatever it takes to get you to notice me now. “
And we hate that idea, don’t we? We
say, “No way, God! I’ll notice you when you bless me!” But do we? How often do
we pray for something, and then when it happens, we totally ignore God until we
need something again? Or we take the credit ourselves. And so we say, “God, if
you take this away from me, I’ll be mad at you. Don’t you dare bring affliction
and suffering on me! You just leave me alone!”
I want
to walk the rest of the way through Lamentations with you. We’ve got to read
these verses. Listen to Chapter 3 verses 19-33. The
thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within
me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord
never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says
my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’ The Lord is good to those who wait for
him, to the soul that seeks him. It is
good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth, to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed
it, to put one’s mouth to the dust (there may yet be
hope), to give one’s cheek to the smiter, and be filled
with insults. For the Lord will
not reject for ever. Although he causes
grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast
love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.
Let me read verse 22 again: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his
mercies never come to an end.
Folks,
God is not cruel, but he is just. He doesn’t cause harm just for the sake of
causing harm. But he doesn’t let the world get away with ignoring and
blaspheming him either. Look, I’m not claiming to totally understand the way
God works in all of this. Sometimes things just don’t seem fair and I don’t
totally get it. I don’t understand why hundreds of babies are aborted every day
and there are good people who would be great parents who have trouble having
children. I don’t get it. But God does. Maybe that’s what it was going to take for
the parents to grow closer to one another and to God and to realize what’s
really important in their lives. And I don’t understand why people have to get
cancer and suffer the way they do. But maybe that’s what it was going to take
to get their attention, or the attention of their family members. I don’t
understand why stock markets collapse. But maybe God has to take our stuff away
from us so that we can see Him. I don’t know. I can’t explain it all. Sometimes
it doesn’t seem fair.
And
that’s where Jeremiah was. It doesn’t seem fair. What is happening to us is
terrible. But you know what: God is still God, and I am not. He is still our
only hope. He still loves us. Much like a child doesn’t always understand being
spanked and grounded and punished, we don’t get why these things happen to us.
These terrible, painful losses we face. But here is the million dollar
question: is God still God when you are in the valley? Is God still God when
you lose the most important thing in your life? Or is there a limit on your
faith? Maybe you’ve had a tragedy. Maybe you’ve had a bad experience. Maybe
something in your past caused you to doubt the existence of God, and you’ve
just been putting on a show. I’m here to tell you, God was God then, he is
still God now, and he will be God tomorrow and forever. Whether you believe it
or not has no bearing on whether or not it is true. And he is sovereign. He is
in charge of everything. And he wants nothing more than a relationship with
you. And he will do whatever it takes to get your attention.
Lamentations
ends the way it should: with repentance. Things haven’t gotten better, but
Jeremiah has realized that he and the people of
Even
in the valley, God reigns. Even when you suffer, God reigns. Even when you
reject God, God reigns. And you might say, “But you don’t understand what I’ve
been through. What has happened to me. The tragedy that I’ve faced. The
horrible things that I’ve suffered through. It’s not fair. God’s not fair.” Oh,
you are so right. But let me tell you, there is one who understands even better
than you that God is not fair. His name is Jesus. He lived a perfect life. He
did nothing wrong. And he got killed for it. He was murdered because of our
sins. Nails were driven through his hands because we are liars. A crown of
thorns was pushed onto his head because we steal. A spear pierced his side
because we commit adultery. He was beaten and whipped because we have not loved
and trusted God. That’s not fair. That is not fair. That’s love.
I
don’t know what you’ve gone through or what you’re going through or what you
will go through. The valleys you face. The times when bad stuff happens. When
doubts start to creep in. Or maybe there was that moment in your past when you
said, “God, if this is how you are, then I can’t believe in you.” Maybe it’s
time to deal with that. Maybe it’s time to say, “God, I don’t get you. I don’t
understand this suffering. But I believe in you. I believe that somehow you
know what you are doing, and all you want is to love me and for me to be with
you forever. Help me in my unbelief. Help me in my doubt.” Maybe you need to
let it all go today.
We’re
going to participate in communion in a moment, and when we do, after you’ve
taken the bread and the cup, and you’ve thought about all the unfair things
that have caused you to doubt, and you’ve thought about how unfair it was for
Jesus to have his body broken and his blood shed for your sins, maybe you need
to just stay up here and pray for a moment. Maybe you need to have it out with
God. Today is a good day to get right with him, or to at least start the
process. And maybe you’re prayer starts something like this: “God, I don’t even
know if you are there or if you are listening. But if you are, I want to
believe in you.” What do you need to talk to God about? What bones do you have
to pick with him? Unload that today. He’s up there saying, “I’m a big God. I
can take it. If you’re mad at me, let me have it. It’s alright. I can take it.
Let’s clear the air. Let’s get it out in the open.” Are you ready to deal with
your valleys?
Pastor Dan Metzger
Van Buren United