Reflections on Lamentations 3

Lamentations 03 (Contemporary English Version)
1. I have suffered much because God was angry.
   
2. He chased me into a dark place, where no light could enter.
   
3. I am the only one he punishes over and over again, without ever stopping.
   
4. God caused my skin and flesh to waste away, and he crushed my bones.
   
5. He attacked and surrounded me with hardships and trouble;
   
6. he forced me to sit in the dark like someone long dead.
   
7. God built a fence around me that I cannot climb over, and he chained me down.
   
8. Even when I shouted and prayed for help, he refused to listen.
   
9. God put big rocks in my way and made me follow a crooked path.
   
10. God was like a bear or a lion waiting in ambush for me;
    
11. he dragged me from the road, then tore me to shreds.
    
12. God took careful aim and shot his arrows
    
13. straight through my heart.
    
14. I am a joke to everyone-- no one ever stops making fun of me.
    
15. God has turned my life sour.
    
16. He made me eat gravel and rubbed me in the dirt.
    
17. I cannot find peace or remember happiness.
    
18. I tell myself, "I am finished! I can't count on the LORD to do anything for me."
    
19. Just thinking of my troubles and my lonely wandering makes me miserable.
    
20. That's all I ever think about, and I am depressed.
    
21. Then I remember something that fills me with hope.
    
22. The LORD's kindness never fails! If he had not been merciful, we would have been destroyed.
    
23. The LORD can always be trusted to show mercy each morning.
    
24. Deep in my heart I say, "The LORD is all I need; I can depend on him!"
    
25. The LORD is kind to everyone who trusts and obeys him.
    
26. It is good to wait patiently for the LORD to save us.
    
27. When we are young, it is good to struggle hard
    
28. and to sit silently alone, if this is what the LORD intends.
    
29. Being rubbed in the dirt can teach us a lesson;
    
30. we can also learn from insults and hard knocks.
    
31. The Lord won't always reject us!
    
32. He causes a lot of suffering, but he also has pity because of his great love.
    
33. The Lord doesn't enjoy sending grief or pain.
    
34. Don't trample prisoners under your feet
    
35. or cheat anyone out of what is rightfully theirs. God Most High sees everything,
    
36. and he knows when you refuse to give someone a fair trial.
    
37. No one can do anything without the Lord's approval.
    
38. Good and bad each happen at the command of God Most High.
    
39. We're still alive! We shouldn't complain when we are being punished for our sins.
    
40. Instead, we should think about the way we are living, and turn back to the LORD.
    
41. When we lift our hands in prayer to God in heaven, we should offer him our hearts and say,
    
42. "We've sinned! We've rebelled against you, and you haven't forgiven us!
    
43. Anger is written all over you, as you pursue and slaughter us without showing pity.
    
44. You are behind a wall of clouds that blocks out our prayers.
    
45. You allowed nations to treat us like garbage;
    
46. our enemies curse us.
    
47. We are terrified and trapped, caught and crushed."
    
48. My people are destroyed! Tears flood my eyes,
    
49. and they won't stop
    
50. until the LORD looks down from heaven and helps.
    
51. I am horrified when I see what enemies have done to the young women of our city.
    
52. No one had reason to hate me, but I was hunted down like a bird.
    
53. Then they tried to kill me by tossing me into a pit and throwing stones at me.
    
54. Water covered my head-- I thought I was gone.
    
55. From the bottom of the pit, I prayed to you, LORD.
    
56. I begged you to listen. "Help!" I shouted. "Save me!" You answered my prayer
    
57. and came when I was in need. You told me, "Don't worry!"
    
58. You rescued me and saved my life.
    
59. You saw them abuse me, LORD, so make things right.
    
60. You know every plot they have made against me.
    
61. Yes, you know their insults and their evil plans.
    
62. All day long they attack with words and whispers.
    
63. No matter what they are doing, they keep on mocking me.
    
64. Pay them back for everything they have done, LORD!
    
65. Put your curse on them and make them suffer.
    
66. Get angry and go after them until not a trace is left under the heavens.
    
    

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    This chapter is in the middle of the five chapters of Lamentations and is the heart of the book, giving it a positive framework on which to form the other chapters.  In the first two chapters we hear the cry of the fallen Jerusalem but in this chapter it is the voice of the prophet Jeremiah that speaks. Some of it is personal while at times he speaks on behalf of all Israelites.
    
    The first 20 verses of the chapter describe the state in which Jeremiah and Israel find themselves under God's judgment.  Though Jeremiah did not partake in Israel's sin of idolatry and turning their backs on God, he suffered along with the rest when judgment came. Part of his suffering was the destruction he saw of his beloved Jerusalem. But with verse 21 he turned his thoughts to the Lord's faithful love and realized there is hope. First, he noted that because of the Lord's faithful love, He exercised mercy and did not totally destroy them. Also, he recalls that the Lord is good to those who wait on Him and seek Him. Calamity did not come on Judah because she had sought after the Lord but because she had not. The Lord does not "enjoy bringing affliction or suffering on mankind." (3:33)  Therefore, it was good to wait quietly for the Lord's deliverance. The question is raised, "Why should any living person complain, any man, because of the punishment for his sins?" (3:39) Rather than complaining over their plight, the people needed to accept it as a result of their own sins, seek after God, and wait patiently for His deliverance.
    
    In these verses (21-42) Jeremiah has outlined a good philosophy by which to live. Wait on the Lord and seek Him for He is good to those who do. However, if you have sinned and experienced the Lord's judgment, be silent and accept the Lord's discipline, and wait quietly for His deliverance. What if you have not sinned yet calamity has come upon you anyway, as in Jeremiah's situation? Do also as Jeremiah did, hope in the Lord anyway, remembering His faithful love and that "His mercies never end." (3:22) Life is not free of problems. How can it be when sin is rampant around us? Though we may be faithful to seek the Lord, the foolish and sinful lifestyle of others is bound to raise havoc in our environment, affecting not only those who cause it, but those as well who have faithfully sought after the Lord. But there is nothing to be gained by turning away from the Lord and blaming Him for the injustice that befalls us. Our hope, always, is in the Lord.