This morning, again, I struggled with reading Lamentations and drawing out inspiration from all the grief, devastation, and destruction expressed in this book of the Bible. Jeremiah's grief and anguish is palpable, and his poetry gives us a close-up, first-hand look at God's wrath upon Jerusalem.

As I was writing my notes, I started to wonder if I shouldn't have started reading this book and sharing my notes here. It isn't easy to find the inspiration in the verses, and it may make new believers or those who don't believe question God's love. I've heard Oprah say once that her god wasn't angry, etc. or something to those effects. Don't quote me, I don't have the exact words she used, but my impression was she thought the Christian God was only loving, kind, and not angry, vengeful, or jealous. It was one of the times when my faith was weak and I was flirting with other ways of practicing 'spirituality', mainly Buddhism and the Bahá'i Faith. Because I respected Oprah intellectually, and had grown to trust her opinions, that comment put a lot of doubt in my mind about the God I grew up knowing, and loving.

Is God jealous? Is God angry? Is God vengeful? 

I knew from all the years of reading the Bible and getting guidance on Christianity from my Papa that God was all of those things. I also knew that He was merciful, kind, loving, powerful, glorious, all-knowing, forgiving, and compassionate. How do you reconcile those things? Especially when your faith is weak, and your list of questions is deeper and longer than your faith?

Knowing how I stumbled, I hesitated a bit to share all the suffering and grief of Lamentations.  I hope not to lead another new believer, or believer of weaker faith (like I was) to misunderstand God's wrath, judgement, jealousy, anger, and vengeance. Because beneath the suffering, the pain and grief, Lamentations teaches us of God's faithfulness, His love, mercy, and forgiveness. We just have to dig a bit deeper, read closer to truly understand. 

It is so important that we always read the Bible within proper context and truly understand the historical and cultural context a book was written from, the literary style of the book, along with the book's message, purpose, and contribution to the Bible. Following these reading guidelines helps us to better understand and apply God's word to our lives. It also helps us grow stronger in faith, not weaker. And this couldn't be more true than with the book of Lamentations.

(For an overview of Lamentations, read this post.)

So, with all that aside, let me dig into Lamentations, Chapter 2.

In my overview of Lamentations, I shared that chapter 2 details and describes God's wrath upon Jerusalem. That couldn't be more true. In the first ten verses of the book (which is only 22 verses long) Jeremiah describes God's wrath and judgement forty times. Forty. Times. Forty different descriptions of the depths of God's anger. God's vengeance. God's wrath and judgment. 

As I read, and reread I could feel Jeremiah's pain and suffering, he wrote so poetically and beautifully about his pain. As his words impacted me and created a vivid picture of the destruction Jerusalem underwent, I began to understand God's wrath. A sense of fear overcame me and made me deeply leery of angering God. How often have we heard of people hitting rock bottom, or getting to the lowest point of their lives and being lead to God? 

Sometimes, we must experience God's wrath in order to truly understand and experience His love and mercy. Sometimes, He must completely destroy us in order to rebuild us anew. 

Lamentations allow us to see, up-close, God's wrath as a warning, but also as a lesson and story of hope. Lamentations teaches us that we bring God's wrath and judgement upon us, but more importantly, God remains faithful and the only way through and out of our suffering.

I'd like to share the verses that stood out to me this morning:

"How the Lord has overshadowed Daughter Zion with His anger! He has thrown down Israel's glory from heaven to earth. He has abandoned His footstool in the day of His anger." -Lm 2:1 (HCSB)

The first thing that struck me with this verse is our need to heed and fear God's wrath and power. I often say that we think of God on too human of terms--that He has the same weaknesses as us, and therefore, is changeable, or weakens, or is fickle and flaky like we can be. Let me be the first to say, God is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing, along with faithful and unchanging. He will not hesitate to judge our wrongdoings, our transgressions, and show us His power and our need for Him.

"He has cut off every horn of Israel in His burning anger and withdrawn His right hand in the presence of the enemy." -Lm 2:3 (HCSB)

The term 'cut off every horn' is metaphoric for cutting off Israel's power and strength, and the mention of God withdrawing His right hand is metaphoric of God withdrawing His power and might from Israel. We learn from this verse that God has no problem with withdrawing our power, along with His power if we disobey Him, even in the face of our enemies. But more importantly, this verse (and all the verses in this chapter) point out that God's wrath is a consequence of Israel's disobedience. Their destruction is a consequence of their actions. God is just in judgement.

"Her king and her leaders live among the nations, instruction is no more, and even her prophets receive no vision from the Lord." -Lm 2:9 (HCSB)

My worst nightmare. Worst. Feeling the absence of God so much in my life that even during the worst, most unthinkable times, He withdraws His guidance, His instruction, His leadership from me and my life--that would be a rock bottom time for me. As bad as everything can/could be, without His guidance and leadership, how ever could I find my way out? I know and have always known, even when my faith was weak, that I needed Him.

One of the greatest lessons I've learned in my spiritual walk is God is not present where sin and evil resides. You cannot serve two masters, you cannot eat at the table of God and the table of evil, you cannot be both good and bad. You just cannot. If it is wrong, He does not have His hand in it. So when we live in sin, He is not instructing and leading us. He withdraws from us. 

"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." -Lm 2:11 (HCSB)

God's wrath is painful to endure and witness. Whether it is in our lives, or the lives of those we love. It is painful and devastating. As deep as our despair is, imagine the pain and despair we cause God when we cut Him off from our lives. When we disobey and cause Him to anger. As a parent, the worst days are the days my kids misbehave and I have to punish them. It is painful for them, sure, but the pain, I believe, is even greater for me. I love them so deeply, and see such great potential and greatness for them and their lives, it pains me in so many ways to see them move away from their greatness. Imagine the pain God feels when He sees us, His beloved children who He has created for great things, turn away and shun Him. Misbehave. Act unkind. Imagine His heartbreak when we do not choose Him. 

Makes us understand His wrath all the greater, no? We have to choose Him. We have to love Him. We have to honor and obey Him. We have to depend on Him. 

"The Lord has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old." -Lm 2:17

It's easy to look over at our adversaries laughing and jeering at us, gloating in their assumption of power, and believe that we have lost and they have won the battle, the war. Not at all, ever, is this true. God punishes us, not our enemies. God judges us in an effort to bring us to Him and show us His power, His love and mercy, but our enemies, our enemies judge us in revenge, in spite, in an effort to get back at us or build themselves up. There is a difference. A difference in the way we should look at our suffering, our failings, our transgressions, at God's judgement of us. God uses our suffering to make us stronger in Him, to bring us to Him. 

Adversaries gloat, but it is not their power that causes our suffering and pain. The least we should be concerned with is their gloating, it is God's wrath that we should fear.

"Pour out your heart like water before the Lord's presence. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children." -Lm 2:19

Repent. Pour your heart out to God and ask for His mercy and forgiveness in your transgression. There is no greater message of hope than knowing that He is always faithful and loving and forgiving and merciful, even when we are the worst of the worst, the bane of all--He still loves us.

My God, how beautiful! 

There, right there is the hope, the salve and balm that Lamentations offers us in our suffering. Despite the destruction and turmoil that surrounds us, despite all that befalls us, all that crumbles in heaps at our feet, despite how much we sin, we only need to repent, truly repent, and pour our hearts out to God for mercy and forgiveness. 

We just need to choose God. All the time, choose Him.

Wherever you are in your walk with God, I wish for you to truly know His love and grace and mercy and deep desire for you and your heart. If you know destruction like Jeremiah speaks of in Lamentations, or if you feel empty like I once felt, if you feel confused, or like you have the biggest heaping pile of sin to repent for--whatever has brought you to God, rest assure that He still loves you. Choose Him.

Deep and Full Blessings to You,

Kiandra