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Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street

Friday, March 28, 2008

Lamentations 1

How lonely sits the city of Jerusalem! She was once full of people. Where are they now? Leaders and important people have been killed or deported. The walls of the city are destroyed and so many buildings have been burned or demolished. It would seem that the worst has happened, and the godly man offers up a sad lament to the Lord.

There is much to mourn. The city can weep about her current condition. So many people have died. There is devastation in every direction. A foreign power has taken charge of the lives of everyone. Citizens stay in the land or go off to Babylon at the pleasure of the invaders. In fact, once-powerful people live or die according to the wishes of outsiders. There is no group that has escaped indignities and misery. There is no food. There is no way to make a life again, or so it may seem. The facts are overwhelming.

She can weep about her former condition. Things were not always as they are now. Great times of former days can be easily remembered, but these memories bring pain. She was a princess back then. Where are her beautiful clothes? Where are her friends and companions? Where is her pride and her amusements? There is simply no way to return to former days of happiness, and memories do not seem to heal, but injure the hearts of those who cannot help but think about better times that can never again be recovered. There were once times of solemn religious assemblies. Where are the festival throngs now? Where are the joys of the presence of God in His appointed sacraments? Even the place of worship is gone. Now those who would not have even been admitted into the temple are in power, and God’s people are full of shame.

She can weep about her sin. Jerusalem was warned concerning the consequences for rebellion and transgression. Why were they so foolish? Where are the idols now that were thought to be of some help in the past? God had spoken clearly, but His prophets were treated with great disrespect. Many proud people would not lead in righteousness. Where are they all now? In Babylon? In the grave? How can Jerusalem rediscover joy? She is plainly guilty.

She can weep about her current prospects. How will they every organize any opposition against a power like Babylon? Is there any hope for some other helper who can deliver the people from such a sad life? There are still enemies around from other nations who look at Jerusalem and shake their heads in disbelief at such thorough destruction. Can the promises of God still be believed?

Especially she can weep about the lack of a comforter. There may be no way to go back in time and to recover an earlier moment. There may be no way to write an alternative history with a different ending. This is what the mourning soul longs for, but it is simply impossible. There can be no health until we stop trying to recover what can never be found again. There is a new life that needs to be embraced, and it is not an easy life. The people of the city must live under the subjugation of the Babylonians. Perhaps this misery could be lessened if a comforter could be found. There may be no way to recover the past. There may be no way to hold on to dreams of the future that were once precious. So many of the people who were in those dreams are now dead or removed from the land. But if there could be someone alongside God’s people as they mourn, if there could be a comforter, perhaps they could carry on. But no such comforter seems near according to the author of this acrostic poem.

The righteous man knows that these trials are not random things. They are from the hand of Israel’s God. Their problems are not going away any time soon. The next six hundred years would be marked by difficulty, as Canaan is under foreign powers, and the righteous remnant is longing for a return of the people to the land, a rebuilding of the temple with a resumption again of Old Testament worship, and the enthronement of a good and powerful descendant of David to rule the kingdom. These things would not all happen, and this was a cause of profound lamentation.

It is no small news that after those six centuries passed, an answer to the righteous longings of the godly was supplied in the gift of Christ our Savior. The objective facts of His Kingdom are worthy of Your sincere meditation. There is surely occasion for mourning still today, but the facts of the gospel demand the most wonderful celebration. Atonement for our sins has been accomplished through the death of Christ. A new kingdom has been established that has gone far beyond the extent of the best Old Covenant situation. The people of God have been granted the best Comforter in the great gift of the Holy Spirit for all who would believe. The justice of God has been completely satisfied in the death of Christ, and the hope that we have is not in a desolate city with some minor improvements. We have been promised the city of God, and this perfect city will surely be ours.

Let us rejoice in the blessings of the New Covenant era. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us, and gave Himself up for our salvation. The promises of God are certain in the resurrection of Christ. We are even made co-laborers in the progress of the Kingdom. Blessed be God forever! There is plenty of room for an honest lament concerning the sufferings of this present age, but we must admit that our situation in Christ is truly wonderful.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM

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