Reflections on Lamentations 5

Lamentations 05 (Contemporary English Version)
1. Our LORD, don't forget how we have suffered and been disgraced.
   
2. Foreigners and strangers have taken our land and our homes.
   
3. We are like children whose mothers are widows.
   
4. The water we drink and the wood we burn cost far too much.
   
5. We are terribly mistreated; we are worn out and can find no rest.
   
6. We had to surrender to Egypt and Assyria because we were hungry.
   
7. Our ancestors sinned, but they are dead, and we are left to pay for their sins.
   
8. Slaves are now our rulers, and there is no one to set us free.
   
9. We are in danger from brutal desert tribes; we must risk our lives just to bring in our crops.
   
10. Our skin is scorched from fever and hunger.
    
11. On Zion and everywhere in Judah our wives and daughters are being raped.
    
12. Our rulers are strung up by their arms, and our nation's advisors are treated shamefully.
    
13. Young men are forced to do the work of slaves; boys must carry heavy loads of wood.
    
14. Our leaders are not allowed to decide cases in court, and young people no longer play music.
    
15. Our hearts are sad; instead of dancing, we mourn.
    
16. Zion's glory has disappeared! And we are doomed because of our sins.
    
17. We feel sick all over and can't even see straight;
    
18. our city is in ruins, overrun by wild dogs.
    
19. You will rule forever, LORD! You are King for all time.
    
20. Why have you forgotten us for so long?
    
21. Bring us back to you! Give us a fresh start.
    
22. Or do you despise us so much that you don't want us?
    
    

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    Lamentations concludes with a prayer in which the people of Judah confess their sin and ask for God to restore them. Following 15 verses describing their condition under the oppression of the Babylonians, the people state, "The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned." (5:16) God had exalted Israel as a nation among nations, but the "crown" of that exalted position had fallen from their heads and they were now enslaved. The result was that their "inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners." (5:2)  The land of Israel was a possession wrapped up in Israel's covenant relationship with God. It was considered her inheritance as part of the covenant. Having broken that covenant, it was only natural that Israel would lose the land which was her inheritance.
    
    Having lost her inheritance and become enslaved, the lingering question in the minds of the Israelites was "Why have You forgotten us forever, abandoned us for our entire lives?" (5:20) God hadn't forgotten them, but for every day they lived under the oppression of the Babylonians, the hope of His restoration seemed more and more a lost hope. But God had promised He would not forget them, of which Leviticus 26:40-45 is an example. In this passage the Lord states, "But if they will confess their sin and the sin of their fathers . . . then I will remember My covenant with Jacob." But this passage also says, "For the land abandoned by them will make up for its Sabbaths by lying desolate without the people, while they pay the penalty for their sin, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes." (Lev 26:43)  If they would confess their sin, God would honor His covenant with them, but the restoration would not come until they had fully paid the penalty for their sin.
    
    God is always faithful to forgive when we confess our sin and turn from it. But that does not rid us of the consequences of that sin. It restores us to relationship with God and we have His help in working through the mess our sin has created, but the mess doesn't immediately go away once we confess.