In my personal experience, the most unpopular book of the Bible is Lamentations. I’ve never seen a pastor preach on Lamentations. I’ve never seen a Bible class focus on Lamentations. I’ve never seen a Sunday-school teacher have children memorize verses from Lamentations. And, I’ve never seen anyone proof-text pieces of Lamentations in arguments to support their doctrines. I’m sure there must be people who study Lamentations; however, my experience is that I’ve never seen it happen. It seems like Lamentations is a pretty unpopular portion of the Bible.
It’s unfortunate that Lamentations is so neglected. The book contains a lot of powerful instruction on personal accountability, making repentance, and God’s capacity to forgive and restore even after He has stricken His people.
What lessons can we learn from Lamentations?
We Were Warned
YHWH has done what he purposed;
he has carried out his word,
which he commanded long ago;
he has thrown down without pity;
he has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the might of your foes.
(Lamentations 2:17)
When I bring up Lamentations, one of the most common responses I receive from people is it’s a sad, depressing, book. That is true, the events recorded in Lamentations are sad. But, the saddest part of Lamentations is all the events in the book were avoidable.
The reason God gave His Torah (the Law) is so that we would know right from wrong, good from evil, and clean from unclean. Being instructed in advance, we are equipped to make right decisions, walk in God’s ways, and maintain good standing in God’s kingdom. God is fair and just; He told us what was required and He gave us opportunity to make our choices. And, God delayed His judgment so that we had ample opportunity to examine ourselves, make correction, and ask His forgiveness before He would act in judgement. We are without excuse. Our decisions and actions are on us. We can choose life, or we can choose death, because we were given the means to do so.
In addition to giving us His instructions and commandments for our lives, God also repeatedly told us we would eventually fall away from Him and go into captivity. So, we not only knew in advance how to walk in God’s ways but we knew in advance His judgement was coming.
Moses warned of the impending exile before his death. Deuteronomy 28 spells out the blessings we receive for obeying God’s commandments and the curses for disobedience. Deuteronomy 29 records the renewal of the covenant and begins the warning of what will happen when the people turn against God’s Torah (Law). Deuteronomy 30 puts a silver lining in the cloud by telling us that in the time of exile the people can remember God, turn back to Him, and be restored to Him. Chapter 30 then tells us that walking in God’s ways, keeping His commandments, is not too hard so we have no excuse for our personal failures. This passage closes by telling us the choice is ours: We can choose life, by holding to God’s instructions and commandments, or we can choose death, by rebelling against the Law of God. It’s always been on us.
Despite having the instruction manual on how to live and the detailed warning of what was coming, the people still chose to do what was evil and deserving of condemnation. Lamentations is the culmination of everything Moses warned us about. When God gave His Torah, He also gave the warning of what judgement we would incur if we rebelled against His Law. Lamentations is the outcome of that forewarned rebellion.
What can we learn from Lamentations as we look forward to Messiah’s return? The apostles taught that we are to continuously make ourselves ready for Messiah’s return. We can’t be complacent. We can’t be comfortable with sin. We can’t presume the day of judgement is far off and won’t affect us. That is everything that snared the people of the past, and they suffered for putting off God. Knowing the people of the past suffered for ignoring God’s instructions and warnings, how can we put off the instructions and warnings given for our future?
After Jesus ascended to heaven, the consistent teaching of the apostles was this: We are going to suffer. We are going to be attacked. The enemies of God will try to break us, and some of us are going to fall. There is going to be tribulation and trials, and God isn’t going to exempt us from suffering. Every one of us must personally persevere, stay strong, and never give up despite the pain and weariness of our trials. What we see in Lamentations is what we will see again in the final moment before Jesus’ return. And like we read in Lamentations, we can be confident God will rescue us from the exile and restore us to Him if our hearts and minds are towards Him.
We Are Responsible
YHWH is in the right,
for I have rebelled against his word;
but hear, all you peoples,
and see my suffering;
my young women and my young men
have gone into captivity.
(Lamentations 1:18)
One of the greatest lessons of Lamentations is personal accountability and the acknowledgement of God’s righteous judgement. Lamentations is not a book that says, “Look at the terrible things God did.” Lamentations is a book that tells us, “Look what we brought on ourselves, and learn from our mistakes.”
Throughout Lamentations, the author consistently acknowledges personal wrongdoing, national wrongdoing, and the wrongdoing of the spiritual leadership. Corruption happened at all levels, so nobody has any excuse. And, nobody can rightly blame God. We were instructed in God’s ways. We were forewarned of God’s judgement. We were dismissive of both instruction and warning. And, we made our choices. It’s nobody’s fault but ours, and God only carried out what He said He would do because He is just and true to His word.
When we stray away from God and experience the curses and discipline under His Law, do we react like the author of Lamentations? Are we honest with ourselves and with God? Do we call out to God and say, “This is my fault. I sinned. I broke your Law. You were right, and I was wrong.” That is the correct response, and that is a consistent theme of the book. The purpose of the curses of God’s Law, the discipline of God’s anger, is for us to acknowledge wrongdoing and turn back to Him. Our suffering and tears are the starting point of repentance and return for anyone who was left the path of God’s Law. But, if we respond in defiance and anger, blaming God and cursing Him, all that’s left is to be destroyed in His fire on the final day of judgement.
Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
they have not exposed your iniquity
to restore your fortunes,
but have seen for you oracles
that are false and misleading.
(Lamentations 2:14)
The condition of the spiritual leaders of the time was that they didn’t teach the truth of God’s instructions and commandments. The leaders gave false messages. They shied away from identifying sin and making correction. They misled the people, only giving positive messages to please everyone. Jeremiah warned of God’s impending judgement, and the leaders of the time burned the scroll containing Jeremiah’s warning (Jeremiah 36). Nobody wanted to receive either correction or warning.
We have been prophetically told that in the last days people won’t have any desire for sound teaching. We are told the people will flock to teachers who tell them what they want to hear. People will want to be lied to, they will want their ears tickled, and they will want spiritual leaders to simply echo their existing thoughts and desires. Well, that time is now.
The most prosperous “churches” of today are the ones that have a charismatic speaker, put on a great concert, and keep everything positive and upbeat. People want to be encouraged, not disciplined. People want to be entertained, not instructed. People want to feel good, not convicted. People want to benefit from a program, not labor for a ministry. And if one “church” doesn’t give them what they want, they will shop around the other dozen buildings in their neighborhood until they find one that does. History has repeated, and prophecy has been fulfilled.
We need to learn the lesson that we are guilty as charged, and the starting point for fixing the problem is our acknowledgment of guilt and a desire to return to God. The people of the past only learned this after they were punished. We can learn from their mistakes and make correction now, before God must discipline us.
Despite our Rebellion, We can Return to God
Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:The steadfast love of YHWH never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“YHWH is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”YHWH is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of YHWH.
It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke in his youth.Let him sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.For the Lord will not
cast off forever,
but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
for he does not afflict from his heart
or grieve the children of men.
(Lamentations 3:19-33)
As bad as things were in the time of the Babylonian exile, it wasn’t the end. God always made provisions for mankind to return to Him. The entirety of scripture is a testimony of God’s desire to restore fallen mankind back into relationship with Him.
When mankind first fell, God promised a redeemer who will crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3).
When God’s temple was completed, He promised that when (not if) His people turn away from Him they can turn back from their wickedness, humble themselves before Him, and He will again hear them and respond with forgiveness (2 Chronicle 6 & 7).
The son of God came to be the promised redeemer, to destroy the devil’s work of leading us in rebellion against God, to pay the penalty of Lawlessness on our behalf, and to give us future hope of life and purification (1 John).
Lamentations is a turning point, not an ending. The book shows us that when we rebel against God and incur His anger, that is our wake-up call. That is our time to be introspective, to reflect on what we did to get into that situation, and to make a choice to change and return to God. If we make the right choice, we can humble ourselves before God, ask His forgiveness, and wait on Him to restore us back to Him.
Conclusion
Lamentations is a powerful message of introspection, honesty, acknowledgement, and change. If we refuse to learn by instruction then we can learn by disciplinary action. If we acknowledge sin, we can be restored to God. If we see our faults, we can correct our path. And through the pain of punishment, God’s capacity to forgive and restore are not used up.
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