Lamentations (Updated, Yes, Again)

I can only bear to do one post about the book of Lamentations. So here it is. But, just so you know, reading this post has the potential to ruin your day.

Lamentations is a short book, only 5 chapters long, which details the grief, anguish, indignities and horrors that the people in Jerusalem experienced while their city was under siege and then eventually destroyed. There are parts of it that are so horrible that they are hard to even read, much less think about.

Before the city was totally destroyed, the Babylonian army put it under siege for several months. This came at the same time as a famine, and the people who were trapped inside the city literally starved to death. There are verses that describe death by the sword as a fortunate fate compared to this slow starvation that the Israelites are experiencing. As a mother myself, the verses that talk about women literally eating their own children are really too much to bear.

Lamentations 4:10

"The hands of the compassionate women
Have cooked their own children;
They became food for them
In the destruction of the daughter of my people."

As horrid as that is, God warned the Israelites that this would happen. In Deuteronomy 28:57 God specifically lists this very thing as part of the curses He would bring down on Israel if they disobeyed Him. But we all know that Israel didn't pay any attention. Even with such wretched threats clearly laid out, the children of God disregarded His commands and did whatever they wanted.

Part of me just thinks, "What is wrong with these people? Its not like God hasn't explicitly told them what to do and not do! And not only that, but He keeps sending them prophets who warn that disaster is coming if they continue to disobey!"

Then I think about my own life. And the culture that I live in. And I stop casting stones at these people who lived thousands of years ago, but were still humans just like we are. Sigh.

I guess if you want to take a lesson from all of this destruction and heartache, it should be this: Sin is horrible. It causes terrible things to happen. The cost of it is always higher than we think it will be. And the cost of sin is very very real, for us, just as for those who came before us. No matter what small consequences we may face in this lifetime, for those who do not call upon Jesus Christ as their Savior, the full cost will be extracted after death.

I will say one surprising thing about the book of Lamentations. It contains at least one bright little gem gleaming from amidst the pain and death. There are a few verses about halfway through the book that must have served as the inspiration for one of my favorite hymns. I just never knew that these verses, so filled with hope and mercy, were to be found right here, in the middle of weeping and lament.

Lamentations 3:22-24

"Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul.
'Therefore I hope in Him!'"

Great is Your faithfulness, O God our Father
There is no shadow of turning with thee.
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not,
As thou hast been thou forever will be.

Great is Your faithfulness
Great is Your faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed thy hand has provided
Great is Your faithfulness
Lord unto me.


**OK, I can't stand to leave this post as is. After you've read the verses about mothers cooking and eating their babies, you are probably so horrified that you don't even know what to think. "Who is this God?" you might be thinking. "Can this possibly be the same God who we call Abba, Father?"

Well, yes it is exactly the same God. And I don't mean for this postscript to negate anything I said earlier about the consequences of sin. But, just so you don't walk around feeling sick for the rest of the day, read these verses, which also come from Lamentations.

Lamentations 3:31-33

"For the Lord will not cast off forever.
Though He causes grief,
Yet He will show compassion
According to the multitude of His mercies.
For He does not afflict willingly,
Nor grieve the children of man.

I should probably have made this a separate post, but since I'm not going to, here are three points to consider, very quickly:

1. God does not afflict willingly. The Israelites were many many generations into horrid sin and disgusting practices by the time God brought down this judgment on them.

2. God did bring about the famine and the siege. But He didn't make those women resort to cannibalism. They did that abomination on their own.

3. He had their ultimate good in mind even during this very painful time. He was purging His children of their sin, so that they could eventually be healed, restored, and blessed by Him again. He still does exactly this in our lives today. And I don't think it has gotten any easier.