Tag: Lamentations

Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, LGG Study
Posted on by

Restore Us, Lord

Today’s Reading: Lamentations 5:1-22 (SOAP: 21)

Bring us back to yourself, O Lord, so that we may return to you;
renew our life as in days before,

Lamentations 5:21
But You, O LORD

Don’t miss the “but You” moment in verse 19. Similar to that of chapter 3, verse 21 – where in the throes of lament Jeremiah says – “But this I call to mind”. Here, he is lamenting the degradation of the city and the plight of the people when it seems the knowledge and the faith of his hope turn his inward thoughts back toward God. This time he says, “But You, O LORD, reign forever. Your throne endures from generation to generation. Remembering these truths seems to prompt both the question and the plea that follow and the words you can almost hear him stammering over in verse 22, “unless You have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure”.

The Confusion and questions

Because Jeremiah knows the goodness of God and His faithfulness to all generations he cries out hoping to understand why God hasn’t come to their aide.

Why do You keep on forgetting us? Why do You forsake us so long?

Lamentations 5:20
The Plea!

In response to his own questions Jeremiah prays a prayer of restoration and renewal and includes a purpose that he knew would align with God’s will for his people and the city. “Bring us back to Yourself, O LORD, so that we may return to You;” – not just to what we knew but first and foremost to You. He went on to pray, “Renew our life”. The plea is not for God to create a new life for them but specifically for restoration to “as in days before” – days when they had a crown and their city stood strong, when they were joyful and dancing. Restored to a time when their elders sat in the city gates and their young men played music. They longed to go back to the day when they weren’t hungry or in danger or living enslaved but to a day when they knew prosperity and success and respect for who they were.

What Can We Learn? – The Application –

What can we learn from these statements of prayer and truth? I think we can take a lesson from Jeremiah’s reasoning and pray prayers that keep God first. I think we should be inspired to watch that our desire is return to Him when we have fallen away, and to pray big prayers without letting them become greedy prayers.

Prayer Prompt

Father, when I lament may my mind and eyes and heart always return to or stay on You. May my chief desire be You and my heart be for ‘renewal’ rather than bigger and better.” Let me not lose heart but when it fades, help me remember You reign forever and Your throne from generation to generation.

Go Deeper

Don’t forget to checkout today’s LGG Blog Post and explore their site to see what God is doing through them.

Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, LGG Study
Posted on by

Restore Us, Lord

Today’s Reading: Lamentations 5:1-22 (SOAP: 21)

Bring us back to yourself, O Lord, so that we may return to you;
renew our life as in days before,

Lamentations 5:21
But You, O LORD

Don’t miss the “but You” moment in verse 19. Similar to that of chapter 3, verse 21 – where in the throes of lament Jeremiah says – “But this I call to mind”. Here, he is lamenting the degradation of the city and the plight of the people when it seems the knowledge and the faith of his hope turn his inward thoughts back toward God. This time he says, “But You, O LORD, reign forever. Your throne endures from generation to generation. Remembering these truths seems to prompt both the question and the plea that follow and the words you can almost hear him stammering over in verse 22, “unless You have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure”.

The Confusion and questions

Because Jeremiah knows the goodness of God and His faithfulness to all generations he cries out hoping to understand why God hasn’t come to their aide.

Why do You keep on forgetting us? Why do You forsake us so long?

Lamentations 5:20
The Plea!

In response to his own questions Jeremiah prays a prayer of restoration and renewal and includes a purpose that he knew would align with God’s will for his people and the city. “Bring us back to Yourself, O LORD, so that we may return to You;” – not just to what we knew but first and foremost to You. He went on to pray, “Renew our life”. The plea is not for God to create a new life for them but specifically for restoration to “as in days before” – days when they had a crown and their city stood strong, when they were joyful and dancing. Restored to a time when their elders sat in the city gates and their young men played music. They longed to go back to the day when they weren’t hungry or in danger or living enslaved but to a day when they knew prosperity and success and respect for who they were.

What Can We Learn? – The Application –

What can we learn from these statements of prayer and truth? I think we can take a lesson from Jeremiah’s reasoning and pray prayers that keep God first. I think we should be inspired to watch that our desire is return to Him when we have fallen away, and to pray big prayers without letting them become greedy prayers.

Prayer Prompt

Father, when I lament may my mind and eyes and heart always return to or stay on You. May my chief desire be You and my heart be for ‘renewal’ rather than bigger and better.” Let me not lose heart but when it fades, help me remember You reign forever and Your throne from generation to generation.

Go Deeper

Don’t forget to checkout today’s LGG Blog Post and explore their site to see what God is doing through them.

Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, LGG Study
Posted on by

Weeping and Destruction

Today’s Reading: Lamentations 2:1-22 (SOAP 2:11)

My eyes are worn out from weeping;
I am churning within.
My heart is poured out in grief

because of the destruction of my dear people,
because children and infants faint
in the streets of the city.

Lamentations 2:11
Destruction Takes a Toll

Jeremiah weeps at the destruction but he isn’t simply crying. He is physically and emotionally impacted because of the destruction of his people. This is personal and Jeremiah is greatly affected.

Applying the Word

Like Jeremiah, we should be greatly affected when God’s people or His work are impacted by suffering, regardless of where the suffering comes from. We should mourn and experience great emotional and even physical unease. Jesus taught in Matthew that those who mourn like this over sin will be blessed, Matthew 5:4. Whether it is over our own sin or the sin of others we should be broken by anything that breaks the heart of God. When we mourn like this we will find ourselves caught up in the lament and we will be moved, like Jeremiah, to pray or to call on others to pray.

Prayer Prompt

Father, break our hearts for what breaks Yours! May we not fail to pour ourselves out before You – for only You can heal and make right ! We believe this in Jesus Name, Amen!’

Posted in Bible study, LGG Study

Faithful Love: Week 4, Friday Living as Wise Women

Posted on by
READ: HOSEA 10:1-8 AND LAMENTATIONS 1:8,15, AND 18; SOAP: LAMENTATIONS 1:18

The Lord’s Judgment against Israel

How prosperous Israel is—
    a luxuriant vine loaded with fruit.
But the richer the people get,
    the more pagan altars they build.
The more bountiful their harvests,
    the more beautiful their sacred pillars.
2 The hearts of the people are fickle;
    they are guilty and must be punished.
The Lord will break down their altars
    and smash their sacred pillars.
3 Then they will say, “We have no king
    because we didn’t fear the Lord.
But even if we had a king,
    what could he do for us anyway?”
4 They spout empty words
    and make covenants they don’t intend to keep.
So injustice springs up among them
    like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field.

5 The people of Samaria tremble in fear
    for their calf idol at Beth-aven,
    and they mourn for it.
Though its priests rejoice over it,
    its glory will be stripped away.
6 This idol will be carted away to Assyria,
    a gift to the great king there.
Ephraim will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed,
    because its people have trusted in this idol.
7 Samaria and its king will be cut off;
    they will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave.
8 And the pagan shrines of Aven, the place of Israel’s sin, will crumble.
    Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars.
They will beg the mountains, “Bury us!”
    and plead with the hills, “Fall on us!”

Lamentations 1:8, 15, and 18

Jerusalem has sinned greatly,
    so she has been tossed away like a filthy rag.
All who once honored her now despise her,
    for they have seen her stripped naked and humiliated.
All she can do is groan
    and hide her face.

15 “The Lord has treated my mighty men
    with contempt.
At his command a great army has come
    to crush my young warriors.
The Lord has trampled his beloved city
    like grapes are trampled in a winepress.

“The Lord is right,” Jerusalem says,
    “for I rebelled against him.
Listen, people everywhere;
    look upon my anguish and despair,
for my sons and daughters
    have been taken captive to distant lands.

The young women and men from Israel had to pay the price of the people´s rebellion toward God. We must never forget that sin has consequences. Read the full devotional

Read the full devotional