Lamentations 1:3 (KJV) And HE Mourns

Lamentations 1:3 (KJV)
Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.

I am reminded of a message I heard Jack Hyles preach many years ago. He was preaching out of one of the Pauline Epistles and reminded us that, though Paul was the penman, these were the words of God. He cautioned us that, though everyone in that audience likely knew that, we might not always interpret the passage according to it. It is easy to slip into a mentality where we know it is the Word of God but only consider the passage from the human writer’s point of view. We should take the position that we know Paul was the penman but consider first what God is saying. 

Jeremiah was the penman of the Lamentations. Written just after the captivity was effected, I imagine Jeremiah, perhaps already dragged against his will into Egypt. He is reflecting on the final memories of Jerusalem’s fate. 

• He recalls the walls torn down
• He remembers the Temple stripped of her wealth and demolished
• He can still hear the silence of the city, robbed of her population 

And he mourns. 

Jeremiah did what so many of the prophets did, and what many artistic types would do; he turned his emotions into words on a page and did so in poetic fashion. 

As I began this reading of Lamentations however, I glanced at the introduction of the book provided by Schofield’s Bible notes.[1]Schofield writes, “The touching significance of this book lies in the fact that it is the disclosure of the love and sorrow of Jehovah for the very people who He is chastening, a sorrow wrought by the Spirit in the heart of Jeremiah.”

These words are not the tear stained words of Jeremiah, but of Almighty God. Jeremiah was moved to such mourning in order to record for us the very heart of God. A heart that continues to grieve over the souls of those who reject Christ and, because they judge themselves unworthy of God, are condemned forever in the torments of hell. 

---

[1]I don’t use a Schofield Bible but his notes are provided in e-Sword.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4500 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Lamentations 1:3 (KJV) And HE Mourns

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.