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The Bible Breakdown
Lamentations 01: Learning to Cry
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today Lamentations, chapter 1. And today's title is Learning to Cry. Learning to Cry yes, it's going to be that kind of book, but there's something beautiful in here as well. We're going to get into all that in just a moment. So if you have your Bibles and you want to open them up, with me to Lamentations, chapter 1. I know that's a small book in the Bible. Many people have never read the book of Lamentations. That's why I feel a sense of honor in bringing it to you today. But while you're doing that it's right after the book of Jeremiah Make sure, if you're new around here, you are liking, sharing and subscribing to the YouTube channel and to the podcast.
Speaker 1:Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast. It really does help us get the word out to what we're doing. And make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing group of people there doing a wonderful job writing devotions every single day, and the goal of what they're doing is to create community. So make sure you are going there and you are locking in with them, because I'm going to tell you something the more we dig, the more we find, and they're doing a wonderful job together.
Speaker 1:All right, well, like I said, if you have your Bibles, want to open up with me to Lamentations, chapter one. Might take you a second to get there, because not everybody reads Lamentations, but I think we should. I think we should because it is. It's powerful because of the permission that Lamentations gives us. So, as always on the first book, we're going to go through it for a moment and kind of set ourselves in the environment so that we can understand the overall summary.
Speaker 1:The overall theme of Lamentations is the idea of hope in the dark. If we were to give this kind of a subtitle, it would be hope in the dark. If we were to give this kind of a subtitle, it would be Hope in the Dark because this is written by Jeremiah and he is writing about something that you really only understand if you've been with us for a little while. We actually we just got through reading through 2 Peter, but before that we went chapter by chapter through the book of Jeremiah, and one of the things that we learned about Jeremiah is his job was to try to talk some sense into the nation of Judah, because if they didn't, bad things were coming. Well, bad things came because they didn't talk sense into them, and so now we have the writing of the book of Lamentations, and so let's give you some background.
Speaker 1:First of all, as I just said, it was written by the prophet Jeremiah, and it was written most likely in or near Jerusalem, after the fall of Jerusalem, and so it was shortly after its destruction, in about 586 AD. So this would have been about 500, almost 600 years before the time of Jesus, and it was right at the beginning of the exile where, for 70 years, most of the Jewish people were scattered all over the Babylonian Empire, and it is written to the survivors of the destruction of Jerusalem. Some interesting facts about this is, first of all, the Book of Lamentations is actually a funeral song where he is mourning over not just the loss of the city but, as the city is, a representation of the Jewish nation that has now been scattered all over the known world, and it's in five chapters, and those chapters are actually five different poems that Jeremiah wrote that were kind of funeral songs. They would have these. If you look through the book of Psalms, you'll see they have some of these songs that were written specifically for funerals and they would be played on these sad instruments. Well, that's what these were like, and chapters one through four are actually acrostics, and we won't see these in the English language but in the Hebrew language.
Speaker 1:It would be the different letters of the alphabet and it was a way for them to be memorized. And you say well, why. In the Hebrew language it would be the different letters of the alphabet and it was a way for them to be memorized. And you say, well, why in the world would you want to memorize a sad song? Well, we're going to get to that in just a moment, but one of the other things that's really interesting is that the book of Lamentations is actually still read every year by Orthodox Jews on what's considered the day of mourning, as they remember the fall of Jerusalem back in 586 BC.
Speaker 1:And it's this amazing time where they remember, because it reminds them to never let that happen again. And so the big idea of Lamentations and this is why I think it's so important that they wanted to make sure that the book of Lamentations was memorized is because Lamentations is a raw expression of grief, yet woven into it is hope. It details the pain of sin's consequences, jerusalem's fall, but it also reminds us that God's mercy is not gone forever. It's important for us to memorize this or maybe not memorize it, but to read it because it teaches us how to grieve while still clinging to God's faithfulness. Even in the worst darkness, god is there. That's why we want to call Lamentations Hope in the Dark, but it begins with in chapter one.
Speaker 1:It begins with learning how to cry, learning how to make space for grief, and one of the things I hope that we get out of the book of Lamentations is remembering that Jeremiah loved his country. He loved his nation. Maybe one of the reasons why God called him into this ministry is because he loved his nation so much that, even after they continually turned their back on God, year after year, he didn't give up. He loved God and he loved his people, and so he kept hoping for their repentance. Well then, when they decided not to repent, he now grieves for them and instead of just you know dealing with it and go well, we should have done better, or just trying his best to just swallow it and move on, instead, he gives room for grief. And can I tell you, there are times in our life when dreams die when people walk away, when difficulty happens, and we want to be strong, and there's something to be said for being strong and making room for our strength, but there's also something to be said for making room to cry, for learning how to take time and just sitting with the fact that things didn't work out the way we would have hoped. And so we're going to read this together and see if we can learn how to make room for all the different difficulties the way Jeremiah did. Okay, you ready? Lamentations.
Speaker 1:Chapter 1, verse 1, says this Jerusalem, once so full of people, is now deserted. She was once great among the nations. Now she sits alone like a widow. Once a queen of all the earth, she is now a slave. She sobs through the night. Tears stream down her cheeks. Among all her lovers, there is not one left to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her. She has become her and become her enemies. Judah has been led away into captivity, oppressed with cruel slavery. She lives among foreign nations and has no place to rest. Her enemies have chased her down and she has nowhere to turn. The roads to Jerusalem are in mourning, for crowds no longer come to celebrate the festivals. The city gates are silent and her priests groan. Her young women are crying. How bitter is her fate. Her oppressors have become her masters and her enemies prosper. For the Lord has punished Jerusalem for her many sins, and her children have been captured and taken away to distant lands. All the majesty of her beautiful Jerusalem have been stripped away. Her princes are like starving deer searching for pasture. They are too weak to run from the pursuing enemy.
Speaker 1:In the midst of her sadness and wandering, jerusalem remembers her ancient splendor, but now she has fallen to her enemy and there is no one to help her. Her enemy struck her down and laughed as she fell. Jerusalem has sinned greatly, and so she has been tossed away like a filthy rag. Jerusalem has sinned greatly, and so she has been tossed away like a filthy rag. All who once honored her now despise her, for they have seen her stripped, naked and humiliated. All she can do is groan and hide her face. She defiled herself with immorality and gave no thought to her future. Now she lies in the gutter with no one to lift her out. Lord, see my misery, she cries. The enemy has triumphed. The enemy has plundered her completely, taking her very precious thing, every precious thing she owns. She has seen foreigners violate her sacred temple, the place the Lord had forbidden them to enter. Her people groan as they search for bread. They have sold their treasures for food to stay alive.
Speaker 1:Lord, look, she mourns and see how I am despised. Does it mean nothing to you all you who pass by? Look around and see if there is any suffering like mine, which the Lord brought on me when he erupted in fierce anger? He has set fire from heaven that burns in my bones. He has placed a trap in my path and turned me back. He has left me devastated, racked with sickness all day long. He wove my sins into ropes to hitch me a yoke of captivity. The Lord sapped my strength and turned me over to my enemies. I am helpless in their hands. The Lord has treated my mighty men with contempt and at his command, a great army has come to crush my young warriors. The Lord has trampled his beloved city like grapes are trampled in a wine press.
Speaker 1:And for all these things I weep. Tears flow down my cheeks. No one is here to comfort me. Any who might encourage me are far away. My children have no.
Speaker 1:Jerusalem reaches out for help, but no one comforts her Regarding his people, israel. The Lord has said Let their neighbors be their enemies. Let them be thrown away like a filthy rag. The Lord is right, jerusalem says, for I rebelled against him. Listen, people everywhere look upon my anguish and despair, for my sons and daughters have been taken captive to distant lands. I begged my allies for help, but they betrayed me. My priests and leaders starved to death in the city, even as they searched for food to save their lives, lord, even as they searched for food to save their lives. Lord, see my anguish. My heart is broken. My soul despairs, for I have rebelled against you. In the streets, the sword kills. At home, there is only death. Others heard my groans, but no one turned to comfort me. When my enemies heard about my troubles, they were happy to see what you had done. Oh, bring the day you promised when they will suffer as I have suffered. Wow, this is terrible, as terrible as Jeremiah is talking about Jerusalem as though she is a woman and she is complaining, and she is both saying I brought this on myself, but it still hurts. God, I know that this is just, but I'm still in pain, and you know.
Speaker 1:What that helps us to realize is, first of all two things. Number one is, if you are going through a difficult season, if you are mourning whether it be the loss of a loved one, a loss of a dream, a loss of anything in your life you have to go through a season of mourning before you can find healing. I know there is this erroneous there's the word of the day, erroneous or just incorrect doctrine that says that we can't acknowledge pain, because if we acknowledge pain, it's the same as saying we don't trust God. Can I just be honest with you? That is stupid and that is demonic. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that something hurts. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging that you are sick. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging that you are in pain. It's just always put a but there. I am in pain, but I know God is faithful. I am in mourning, but I know God is faithful. I am in mourning, but I know God will not give up on me.
Speaker 1:And so, for some of us, what we need to learn how to do is we need to learn how to cry. We need to learn how to take time and mourn a loss. Is it possible that there are some difficulties in your life right now? There's some anxiety, there's some depression, there's some fear, there's some worry, there's some agitation. You're getting angry with everybody in your life, and one of the reasons why is it has nothing to do with what's going on in your life right now. It's because of unresolved mourning. In your past, you never took time to sit and have a funeral for the business that didn't work out, for the unresolved trauma of a past relationship that broke your heart. You were so quick to move forward that you didn't stop and just sit for a moment.
Speaker 1:Now, I'm not saying that we wallow. I'm not saying that we live in yesterday and I'm not saying that we become victims. We are not victims. Jesus saved in yesterday. And I'm not saying that we become victims. We are not victims. Jesus saved us from all of that. Okay, you are not. But at the same time, it's okay to say you know what that hurt and you learn to take a moment. However, at the same time, we say but God is faithful, and that's what we hear over and over again that Jeremiah is already saying. He's saying this is bad, this is bad, this is bad. But instead of him just saying it's bad and sitting there and dying, he's talking to God about it. That's what we do when we go through difficult times. We acknowledge that it's horrible and then we take it to the Lord. That's the first side.
Speaker 1:The second side is, maybe hurting people hurt people, and so there might be someone in your life that they're just hard to get along with. They're just difficult. You ever just have that person. The negative Nancy, the Debbie Downer you know the person who can find a cloud in any sunshiny day. You know that kind of person. Someone pees in their cornflakes every single day. You know what I'm saying? It's just just just ugh. They can make lemons out of any lemonade. Maybe they're just a terrible person, or maybe there's unresolved pain, hurt and conflict in their life and they don't know how to deal with it properly. Now, does that give them excuse to treat you like trash? No, but it does help us understand why they do that, and so what our job is is to show grace and to take that person to the Lord and say God, I have no idea why Mr So-and-so is such a jerk of a human being, but, god, if it's because they have pain, wounds and difficulties, I'm taking them to you right now and let God be the one who heals them. So, no matter where you find yourself today.
Speaker 1:Sometimes the reason why God puts scripture like this here is, for nothing else to teach us how to cry, teach us how to mourn over the loss. And maybe the reason why it's in the system of the Orthodox Jewish faith that they memorize these scriptures and quote them on the day of mourning is it reminds them that it's okay to cry. It's just not okay to stay there, and they go from crying to taking it to God, to healing. Is that what you need to do today? Let's pray together right now.
Speaker 1:God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you give us space to mourn and space to cry, not so we can stay there. Many times, lord, the enemy wants us to park and make a home in a valley of despair, but, god, I know you want us to pass through that valley on into healing. And I pray today, god, if there's anyone who has been avoiding a time of crying, but that's what they need, I pray you, god. If there's anyone who has been avoiding a time of crying, but that's what they need, I pray you'll give them permission today to just mourn the loss of something, but not to camp out there, not to stay, but to pass through it onto healing. We thank you for that. Now, in Jesus' name, we pray Amen and amen. Well, god's word says to us no-transcript.
