Chapter 1
Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress. Lamentations 1:3 – Lamentations is thought to be written by the prophet Jeremiah closely after the fall of Judah. In this book we see his heartbreak after seeing the people he warned to turn from sin not listen and begin seeing the coming pain he tried to tell them would come. He also is broken seeing the holy temple of God being ransacked and destroyed by these pagan nations. In verse 3 we see this image of the people now dwelling in these foreign nations after being carried away from there homes, but finding no resting place. Imagine being somewhere but not having the peace or safety there to close your eyes to rest. This was the new normal for the people of Judah. As we read these next few chapters hold tight to what verse 18 says, “but hear, all you peoples, and see my suffering.” See and learn from the pain these people went through because they stubbornly wouldn’t let go of their sin. Let’s turn away from sin so our story doesn’t turn into theirs. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1359
Her uncleanness was in her skirts; she took no thought of her future; therefore her fall is terrible; she has no comforter. “O Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!” Lamentations 1:9 – Context for the new book study…Lamentations is a short book of written down songs of sorrow that were sung or prayed after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Over and over the people of God rejected Him and turned to other sins, idols, and neighboring lands to enjoy and find their protection in. After warning them through the prophets numerous times of what would take place if they trusted and followed these other things, finally God brought on His people the punishment for their actions. As we read through these chapters we gain a small sense of the deep sorrow and lamentation that came from God’s people who tasted His judgement. Our passage above shows a key reason why they experienced such devastation. Jerusalem took no thought of her future. She lived for the here and now, not giving tomorrow a second thought and what might happen as a result of her actions. The pleasures in the moment blinded her from seeing the pains of tomorrow because of such actions. We so often see this in our day as well, where people are experiencing deep pains and sorrows because they made a choice without considering the future consequences. Maybe even you today are suffering still because of choices you made in the past that had no consideration of the long-lasting effects they would bring to you. While we can’t change the decision of the past, we can determine the decision we’ll make today. Learn from today’s passage that the momentary pleasure of sin is not worth the lasting desolation it brings. Choose a life of holiness that brings joy today and eternal blessing for tomorrow. The pleasure of sin today is not worth all the hurt it will bring you in the future. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2734
Chapter 2
How the Lord in his anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud! He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. Lamentations 2:1 – Within the last couple weeks I remember walking to church one morning and finding it to be all smoky outside. I thought it was someone burning a field close by, come to find out it was due to the Colorado fires. And I’m in central Kansas! It reached that far! The point here I want us to grab it that if we think the punishment of our sinfulness will be minor or won’t impact others, we need to rethink that. Here scripture says Jerusalem was covered under a cloud of destruction that all felt, even those passing by were shocked at how destroyed it was. God doesn’t take sin lightly and we shouldn’t either. Let Jesus take the weight of the punishment of your sin first, and if you’ve already let Him do that, keep doing your best to keep sinfulness out of your story. The pain it brings is real and others will feel it to. Let the cloud over you be one of blessing instead that touches all those around you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1360
My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city. They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers’ bosom. Lamentations 2:11-12 – Yesterday we read about how the people of God went forward into their sin without any thought of the future consequences their choices may bring. Now we are seeing what those consequences would be, and no one would be blinded to such terrors. The temple and city destroyed, the city walls torn down, yet even worse, the destruction of the people. Young, older, even babies dying in the streets. The writers sees all this is and is deeply broken by all of it, he can’t even keep from vomiting after the vile things he witnesses. All this though was the consequences of sin that the people refused to think about when they rejected the Lord. When we then see the consequences of sin, whether in our life or in someone else’s, allow that sight to firm up your resolve to continue saying no to the temptations of the enemy. For if such turmoil is what sin brings, let us never be blinded again to the reality behind the temptation. The sort of image the writer of Lamentations saw was something he never wanted to see again, we would never want to see, and something God never longs to see in our story either. Let us choose the path of following Jesus that results in rest, peace, and Heaven rather than the disgusting ending sin brings. Following Jesus is better. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2735
Chapter 3
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 3:31-33 – Sometimes when reading passages like the ones we have been reading these past couple days I need a reminder like this one today. That God doesn’t afflict from His heart. Meaning He finds no pleasure in punishing us. It’s not coming from a bitterness towards us that He’s allowed to grow in His heart. We see that spoken again in Ezekiel 18:32 where He says He finds no pleasure in the death of anyone and pleads with man to turn from their sin and live. Take this truth to heart, God’s punishment towards our sin and the pain we go through as a result of our choices isn’t something He find pleasure in. His desire is for us to live holy and blessed, but is willing to allow us to feel the discomfort we need in order to turn from our sin. Know He doesn’t take pleasure in your pain, He finds delight when we turn from the sin that causes us pain. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1361
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:24 – About a month ago I was able to attend a church leaders conference and during that time one of the challenges given from the stage connected with the thought of this passage. When we pray to God, what are we seeking from Him? Are we seeking more from God, or are we seeking more of God? In our Lamentations passage we have Jerusalem being personified and speaking about their turmoil. They share the deep pains and the despair they are in as they cry with seemingly no help from the Lord. But, in the midst of the despair, he calls to mind the steadfast love and great faithfulness of God. In that place, of calling such things to mind, the writers settles His heart by saying, “The Lord is my portion.” While I may not have all the things I once did because of the chaos that has been in my life lately, I still have the Lord, and that’s enough for me. We too may have so much in life stripped away from our hands. Health, family, jobs, dreams, homes. While this can lead to deep despair, God is seeking for us as well to call to mind the truth that He is enough. We may lose everything else in life, but He is our portion. Our God will never leave, His love will never change, and His power can never be defeated. The things of this world will pass away, even the things that are precious to us in this world, but our God will remain. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2736
Chapter 4
The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem. Lamentations 4:12 – Jerusalem had been so well fortified it seemed completely impossible that anyone would be able to come in a take over the city. Yet they did and brought massive destruction with them. We must never underestimate the power of God. We may think we can safeguard ourselves from the coming consequences of our sin, but we can’t. The only wall that can stop us from tasting the punishment of death as a result of our sin is Jesus. Nothing else but Jesus can hold back the wrath of God on our sin. Take your shelter in Him, accept the forgiveness and life He is offering to you. The reason the people in our passage today went through what they did was because they chose to shelter under something else than God. Don’t let that be your story. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1362
How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street. Lamentations 4:1 – Once again our chapter is allowing us a glimpse into the life of those from Judah that were carried away into Babylonian exile. Immediately we see clearly that things are not how they used to be. Their splendor has dimmed. Those who were held in high esteem are now regarded as nothing. While once clean, pure, and full are now they are filthy, unrecognizable, shriveled to the bone. Scripture even says happier were the ones who were killed by the sword for they didn’t have to taste such hunger and suffering. While it’s never enjoyable to see images of suffering like this, whether in person or even just though the pages of scripture, it is needed for us to be reminded of the true result of our sinful choices. Lamentations is all about the suffering that is attached to our choice of sin over God. When God’s people chose sin over Him, they found themselves experiencing the results of such a choice. God didn’t enjoy bringing such calamity on His people, nor does He enjoying seeing us today taste the consequences of sinful choices. If such things did bring Him such joy, why would He go through all the trouble of sending His only Son to die on a cross so we could live apart from sin? Know the pains the people are facing in the pages of Lamentation is not the desire God has for us today. Instead He desires us to live within His rest, under His shelter of protection, and experiencing the fruits of the Spirit that come with a holy life after Him. God’s desire is not lamentation, it’s rejoicing, but know lamentation is path that can be found by us today if sin is our choice over Jesus. Choose the path that will lead to rejoicing. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2737
Chapter 5
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. Lamentations 5:2 – Lamentations has been a heavy study to go through these past few days. It’s us walking into someone’s story of pain and getting the deep details of their struggle. God’s people here lost absolutely everything. Here in our passage today it even says the inheritance, the things they would have looked forward to claiming as there own one day, that too was taken away. For those who have placed their faith in Jesus, take comfort that the inheritance we have from God can never be taken away. The life, the forgiveness, the hope of heaven, and the welcoming into His presence can never be stripped away from us. Yes, even in our story like those in our passage, we can have so much in life taken from us. Take comfort though knowing that what you have in Christ can never be stripped away. It’s your promised blessing from your Heavenly Father. Today, maybe you’ll bump into someone who has lost so much in this world. See if you can share with them that in Christ is a blessing that they can never lose. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1363
Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old — unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us. Lamentations 5:21-22 – If you’ve been reading with me these last few days through Lamentations, we haven’t been reading super encouraging passages together. Here we have the last few lines of the book and they do sum up the attitude of the book. “God, make us right with you again, that is unless you have completely rejected us because of your anger towards us.” What a hopeless posture to find yourself in, but an understandable one as well when you read through the horrors they were facing at this time. As I was studying though, I came across this quote over this passage…“The book ends the way God intended it to end, with the kind of unresolved anguish we have come to expect from the Weeping Prophet. Yet Lamentations was never intended to have the last word.” (Ryken) Yes, the consequences of their sinful choices were present, real, and seemingly never-ending, but this season of lament wasn’t their forever story. God would bring restoration, God would eventually bring His Son to be their Messiah, and God will one day make all things new. Right now, you too may be in a season where it feels like God’s anger is just exceedingly great and the struggles you’re facing will never end. Just know your lamentation isn’t your final word. God’s promises are good, His love is real, and His promise of Heaven is true. Pray, seek the Lord, ask for Him to restore your heart back to what He wants it to be, and remember the truths of scripture about His love and promises even when the struggle of today is so real. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2738
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