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More Lamentations commentaries

Lamentations 1:1-11

Lamentations 1:12-22

Lamentations 2:1-10

Lamentations 2:11-22

Lamentations 3:1-24

Lamentations 3:25-40

Lamentations 3:41-46

Lamentations 4:1-13

Lamentations 4:14-22

Lamentations 5:1-6

Lamentations 5:7-18

Lamentations 5:19-22

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Lamentations 3:1–24
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Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all...As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.  (G. K. Chesterton, Quoted in Signs of the Times, Apri … More

Hurts

Jeremiah pours out his heart in behalf of his erring, prostrate nation. Her crimes have brought her to the brink of extinction. She lies crushed and bleeding beneath a merciless invader. Her temple is in ruins; her walls are demolished; her people are either dead, dazed, scattered, or captive.

So as we turn to Lamentations 3, what are the Biblical afflictions God uses, manages, allows and most of all - hurts that HE can handle:

  1. The hurts of broken and physical health (v.4), “He has aged my flesh and my skin, and broken my bones."
  2. The hurts of deep emotional strain (v. 5). “He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe."
  3. The hurts of periods of hard depression (v. 6). “He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago."
  4. The hurts of desperation and burden of being trapped (v. 7) “He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy."
  5. The hurts of feeling out of touch, distant from God and left behind in life (v. 8). “Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer."
  6. The hurts of frustration and confusion (v. 9) “He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked."
  7. The hurts of anxiety and sadness (v. 17). You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity.
  8. The hurts of physical weakness and hopelessness (v. 18). And I said, “My strength and my hope Have perished from the Lord."
  9. The hurts of bitter affliction and aimlessness (v. 19). “Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall."

Application

Jeremiah saw one ray of hope in all the sin and sorrow that surrounded him. It is comforting to know that God’s steadfast love is greater than my sin and He promises forgiveness.

Lamentations 3:1-24 (English Standard Version)

I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones; he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked. He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding; he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow. He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver; I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD." Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."

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