FBC Morning Light (10/28/2023)

Good Saturday morning, people of faith. We're going to be reading in Lamentations chapter 5 this morning, and we're going to be talking about Jeremiah as he works through the depths of despair in regards to what's happened to his people and the land and his relationship with God through it all.

Lamentations 5: Jeremiah’s Lament Over Jerusalem’s Despair

So let me start in verse 1 of Lamentations chapter 5. It says, Remember, O Lord, what has come upon us. Look and behold our reproach. Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens and our houses to foreigners.

We have become orphans and waifs. Our mothers are like widows. So the land has been overrun by the Babylonians at this time. They have looked to Egypt for help in spite of what the Lord through Jeremiah has spoken to them about not turning to Egypt for help.

And Jeremiah is just pouring out the despair from within to the Lord, saying, Look, look at us. Look at all the horrible things that have happened. And that is not a wrong thing to do, to pour out your heart to God.

And there's a fine line sometimes when you become accusatory of God, that that is not a place to go. So I'm going to jump down to verse 7, and Jeremiah talks in verse 7 about why this is happening. It says, Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their iniquities.

Servants rule over us. There is none to deliver us from their hand. We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness. This trouble and despair, the leadership is not good.

And yet he is saying, Our fathers sinned, and that was certainly true. And they are bearing the responsibility of, or the consequences rather, of what happened because of what their fathers did. And it goes on and talks about how their women have been ravished.

The elders were not respected. Princes were hung by their hands. Young men ground at the millstones. Awful, tragic things happening. In verse 15 it says,. The joy of our heart has ceased. Our dance has turned into mourning.

The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned. And so in the depths of your despair, as you think of the wrong that others have done, as Jeremiah talked about his fathers, the fathers have sinned and are no more, and they bear the responsibilities.

Now Jeremiah is talking about we have sinned. Do not forget your own responsibility. None of us is in a situation where in whatever conflict or despair we're having that we are perfect. Understand that the Lord can be using those things, those circumstances in your life to get you to realize the wrong that you have done.

God’s Sovereignty and the Prayer for Restoration

And finally, in the last couple of verses of chapter 5, Jeremiah goes back to some timeless truths. It says,. You, O Lord, remain forever. Your throne from generation to generation. God never leaves his throne.

He is never not in authority. He is never not sovereign over this world and over the circumstances of each of our lives. It says,. Then Jeremiah ends this with,. Why do you forget us forever and forsake us for so long a time?

Turn us back to you, O Lord, and we will be restored. Renew our days as of old, unless you have utterly rejected us and are very angry with us. It seems to me to be a bit of a strange way to end the book of Lamentations.

Yet at the same time, Jeremiah recognizes that ultimately we are at God's disposal. We are beholden to what he does and how he works and what he works in our lives. Let us not forget these things this day.

Prayer for Repentance and Trust in God

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we see Jeremiah lamenting and eventually confessing the sin of himself and his people, that we would do the same as we look and see the wrong that we have done, that we are not perfect, that you remain sovereign from generation to generation.

You are on your throne. Help us to understand that you and you alone are free to act as you wish. And let us put our trust in you, a faithful and true God. It's in your son's name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Have an excellent day, people of faith.