Cairo: Jesus in Egypt & God's Unusual Leaning
God seldom gives us all we need to understand, but He always gives us what we need in order to obey. The story of Jesus in Egypt as a boy offers a...
The book of Lamentations isn’t one we often read. Let’s be honest. It seems like a real downer. Jeremiah’s “lamentations” sting like the swat of a paddle. And yet—amazingly—there’s good news for us.
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Good news seems good usually because of the bad news that came first.
Amazingly, this downer book of Lamentations offers at least 3 reasons we can have hope in life.
God’s kindness to us always comes on the basis of His grace —not His justice. Why? Because God remains under no obligation to forgive our sins (apart from Christ)—only to judge them. If we suffer any hardship at all, it measures little against the weight of justice we deserve for our willful sins.
Why should any living mortal, or any man, offer complaint in view of his sins? Let us examine and probe our ways, and let us return to the Lord. —Lamentations 3:39–40
We should “examine and probe our ways” in order to gain perspective and motivation to change directions. The bitterness of our consequences draws us like a magnet to “return to the Lord.”
Judah had looked to Egypt to save them from the threat of Babylon, but Egypt proved unreliable and ineffective against the calamity God had ordained via Judah’s enemies—a fact Jeremiah had told the king of Judah beforehand (Jeremiah 37:5–10).
Yet our eyes failed, looking for help was useless; in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save. —Lamentations 4:17
In moments of need, human help often seems preferable to relying on God—especially when:
But when God’s clear will points to trusting Him alone, we will always discover that our “looking for help [elsewhere] was useless.”
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Rising from the fog of despair and lament, Jeremiah recorded Judah’s prayer of hope.
You, O Lord, rule forever; Your throne is from generation to generation. . . . Restore us to You, O Lord, that we may be restored; renew our days as of old. —Lamentations 5:19, 21
The Jews appealed to God’s mercy based on their confidence in His sovereignty.
Lamentations ends with a message of hope based on the character of God and the promises of God—in spite of the sin of His people.
That points to us.
The New Testament urges Christians to take comfort that because God has not forsaken His promises to Israel in spite of their sin, neither would He forsake us Christians when we blow it (Romans 8:1, 35–39; 11:1–2).
God offers mercy to the contrite of heart. Our hope for a future of mercy comes for one reason:
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. —Lamentations 3:22–23
If we will come to Him, He will begin the process of restoration. We know He will because He said He would, and great is His faithfulness.
Tell me what you think: How has God’s discipline been a blessing in your life? To leave a comment, just click here.
Adapted from Wayne Stiles, “Lamentations,” in Insight’s Bible Application Guide: Isaiah–Malachi (IFL Publishing House, 2015), pages 94-97.
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