LAMENTATIONS

LAMENTATIONS

I got slammed a couple weeks ago with a harsh virus. I could barely breath, so I went and got a mouth swab; it got sent to the lab, and was negative for Covid. THANK GOD! But the virus hit hard and caused a few small spots of pneumonia on my lungs so I’m fighting that. I couldn’t figure out how come this had to happen to me. The only reason I can see is that the Lord wanted me to experience more compassion for those who have been affected by this. It’s horrible. I realized how much compassions Jesus has for us, that He went through all this misery so we could get well.

 

I went to the book of Lamentations because I knew there was good scriptures there. Why is it called Lamentations?  Could it be because we lament and when we feel our worst is when we need God the most?

I think the passage of scripture speaks much to our times.

 

“The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.

 

“For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her, they have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.

 

“They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there. The anger of the Lord hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.

 

“As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.  They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled;
for our end is come.  Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness. The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.

^“Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins. (Lam. 4:12-20).

 

And then the best part comes from chapter 3, starting from verse 19 (for brevity’s sake, I don’t include all the verses, but you get the point.

 

“Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

 

“For the Lord will not cast off for ever: but though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.
All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.

 

“Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven.

“I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon. Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.

“O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life. (Lam. 3:19-58)

 

THE DEVIL WILL NOT DEFEAT US!

 

Love, Carolyn