March 26, Lamentations 2
The Lord has swallowed up without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers. - Lamentations 2:2
I love to sing about what the Lord has done for us, don’t you? When we sing about his unfailing love, his amazing grace and his merciful kindness, we glorify God and encourage ourselves and one another. Many of our songs celebrate how God has been so good to us, and teach us to count our blessings.
There aren’t many songs in our hymnals or on our screens like the Lamentations. Chapter 2 describes how the Lord showed no pity to Jerusalem when he unleashed his wrath on the once highly favored city. These people were supposed to be holy to the Lord. But their habitual idolatry and persistent wickedness offended God’s perfect holiness. His perfect justice and righteousness compelled him to keep his promises to punish them if they would not repent of their disobedience and apostasy.
Chapter 2 refers multiple times to God’s anger and wrath. The punishment was severe because their sins were great and his wrath toward them was hot. The Chaldeans were the implement of destruction, but it was God’s own hand and will that used that implement to punish his delinquent, impenitent people. “He” was the actor, the one who cast down, swallowed up, brought down, cut down, burned, killed and poured out. This idea offends the tender sensibilities of some who think that their God could never do such things as this chapter attributes to God’s own actions. I’m sure we’d all rather meditate on the sweet goodness of God and the abundance of blessings he gives us. But the true picture of God in the Bible shows us his goodness and his severity, his astounding love and his terrifying wrath.
The nation of Israel was born out of bondage in Egypt. God led his chosen people by a great cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. In the days of Israel’s national death throes, they were not led by the cloud; they were under the cloud. They weren’t guided by the pillar of holy fire; the fire burned them, their city and their way of life. The survivors, even the captured king and his princes were weak with starvation and thus easy to apprehend. They were scattered among the nations, as they ran away in fright or were deported to other lands as slaves. They had long neglected God’s law while they lived in the land, and now they were among people who had no regard for the law of God. The prophets among them received no revelations from God. They were cut off, under the chastening rod of God.
Jeremiah wept until he was nauseated about the destruction and death all around him. Jerusalem was in a desperately bad situation. Mothers saw their children starve and die. Everyone suffered under the siege and attacks. The false prophets among the people had lied to them, telling the king and the people what they wanted to hear. As they suffered the onslaught of God’s wrath, they realized that Jeremiah was right. God was angry, and he was going to punish them for their disobedience. God was only doing what he warned them through Moses he would do, back before they entered Canaan. So they cried all night and lifted up their hands to God. They were pleading for their lives and the lives of their children. A remnant would be spared, but God destroyed many of his own people because of their apostasy and evil ways. Their ruin was “as vast as the sea.” They were beyond healing.
We do not have a cafeteria relationship with God. We cannot choose which of his attributes we like and decline the others. But we can devote ourselves to trust and obey him in love and reverent fear as our Father and our God. Then we never need worry about suffering the consuming fire of an angry God.
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—March 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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