SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/13/2014
10:44 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Prophet’s
Distress PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Lamentations
3:1-18
Message of the
verses: In today’s SD we begin a new
chapter and also a new main section from the outline of Warren Wiersbe. First of all I want to use an endnote that
Dr. Wiersbe has for this chapter that will help us better understand it. “Keep in mind that in chapter 3, Jeremiah
altered the acrostic and gave three verses to each letter of the Hebrew
alphabet. As he did in 2:16-17, he
reversed the letters ayin and pe in 3:46-51.”
Now in explaining more about chapter three Dr. Wiersbe
points out that the third chapter is the heart of the book of Lamentations and
in it Jeremiah describes his own personal pain and distress, while in the first
two chapters he wrote about the people and also the city. “The pronouns ‘he’ and ‘his’ (referring to
God) and ‘I’ and ‘me’ (referring to the prophet) are prominent in these
sixty-six verses that form the heart of the book. Lamentations 3:1 is the central verse of the
book and verses 21-39 comprise the ‘theological heart’ of the chapter and the
book. From 1:1-3:18, Jeremiah has
described ‘hopelessness,’ but verses 19-39 focus on the hope that we have in
God, no matter how desperate our situation might be. Jeremiah speaks for himself, but as he does,
he also reflects the feelings and faith of the godly remnant of Jews who heard
God’s Word and sought to obey Him.”
The Prophet’s Pain (Lamentations 3:1-18): “1 I am the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath. 2 He has driven me and made me walk In darkness and
not in light. 3 Surely against me He
has turned His hand
Repeatedly all the day. 4 He
has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones. 5 He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and
hardship. 6 In dark places He
has made me dwell,
Like those who have long been dead. 7 He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain
heavy. 8 Even when I
cry out and call for help, He
shuts out my prayer. 9 He
has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked. 10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in
secret places. 11 He
has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He
has made me
desolate. 12 He
bent His bow And
set me as a target
for the arrow. 13 He
made the arrows of His
quiver To enter into my
inward parts. 14 I
have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day. 15
He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood. 16
He has broken my
teeth with gravel; He
has made me cower
in the dust. 17 My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness. 18 So I say, "My strength
has perished, And so has my hope from the LORD."” I can say that I am glad that this book does
not end here.
As we have just finished studying the book of Jeremiah,
and saw what Jeremiah had to endure as a prophet of God for forty years it is
no wonder that he would write something like this, for Jeremiah had had many
terrible things happen to him in his life, but probably the worst was that the
city of Jerusalem was destroyed along with the temple of the Lord. Jeremiah knew that all the people of Judah
had to do was repent, and even though they would have gone into captivity,
their city and the temple of the Lord would not have been destroyed, so Jeremiah
had this also to contend with. As we
look at this section of Lamentations we can see things that are similar to the
writing of David, and also Job. We see
things that happened to Jeremiah that also happened to the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Jeremiah mentions darkness, and this seems like being
dead, and pictures defeat and despair “There were those who dwelt in darkness
and in the shadow of death, Prisoners in misery and chains,” “He brought them
out of darkness and the shadow of death And broke their bands apart (Psalm 107:10,
14).” “The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on
them (Isa. 9:2).”
Jeremiah writes something similar to what David wrote
from Psalm 32, which is a Psalm he penned when he had sinned with Bathsheba, as
the Psalm speaks of his repentance. “For
day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with
the fever heat of summer. Selah (Psalm 32:4).”
This verse shows that the hand of God was heavy on David, and Jeremiah
endured a similar thing. The result of
this was that Jeremiah felt and looked older that he was “8 "You have shriveled me up, It has become
a witness; And my leanness rises up against me, It testifies to my face. 9 “His anger has torn me
and hunted me down, He has gnashed at me with His teeth; My adversary glares at
me (Job 16:8-9).” We see in verse eight
that Jeremiah felt like his prayers were not being answered, that God had
slammed the door on him (v. 8, and see verse 44). In verses 10-11 we see he felt like he was
mangled and drug away. We see the symbol
of the lion in this section, and the lion was the symbol of Babylon so Jeremiah
must have been thinking about how Babylon attacked his beloved city and temple
even using arrows that seemed to be heading for him as seen in verses
12-13. Job felt the same thing “"For
the arrows of the Almighty are within me, Their poison my spirit drinks; The
terrors of God are arrayed against me. "Have
I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, So
that I am a burden to myself? (Job 6:4 and 7:20).”
The next thing that I want to talk about is how the
people still did not think much about him, and one would think that they would
because all that he said had come true.
The point that I want to make here is that I believe that the reason
they did not think much about Jeremiah was because they were not true followers
of Jehovah. Paul tells us that we are
born spiritually dead and until we become born again believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ we cannot understand the things of God even when it seems like we
should be able to, similar to the people that were with Jeremiah, but sins
blinded their eyes just as it does people today.
In conclusion I want to look at another end note from
Warren Wiersbe that will give encouragement to us as we move forward in Lamentations. “He names God—‘the Lord’—for the first time
in this chapter in v. 18. This is
Jehovah, the covenant-making God who is faithful to His Word and His people.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I can only say
that the Lord is in control of what I am studying and when I am studying it as
it seems to me that my study in 2 Thessalonians and Lamentations have run
similar paths, at least at this particular time. The study in 2 Thessalonians at least the
early part of it is about the persecution and hardship that the Thessalonians
are going through, and of course this study in Lamentations shows the pain and
suffering that Jeremiah and the people of Jerusalem were going through. God is the God who is in control and give His
marvelous grace to take us through difficult times.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust the Lord to see me through what is
going on in my life at this time.
Memory verses for the
week: Colossians 3:1-8.
1 Therefore if you have
been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set
you mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and you life is hidden
with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who
is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in
glory. 5 Therefore consider the members
of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and
greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For
it is because of these things that the wrath of God has come upon the sons of
disobedience; 7 and in them you once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also put them all aside: anger,
wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Samaritan woman” (John 4:29).
Today’s Bible
question: “Where was Abraham buried?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/13/2014 11:48 AM
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