Lamentations | Why Jeremiah's Cry Matters for Your Faith Today

What is the Book of Lamentations about?
Who wrote Lamentations in the Bible?
What happened during the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC?
How does Lamentations teach about grief and faith?

The discussion of Lamentations on God's Whole Story podcast offers a profound exploration of this often-overlooked biblical book. Opening with a brief overview, the hosts contextualize Lamentations as a collection of laments attributed to the prophet Jeremiah. This powerful book recounts the grief and devastation following Jerusalem’s fall in 586 BC, offering a window into one of Israel’s darkest moments. 

The hosts draw connections between the false assurances of ancient Israel, such as reliance on the physical temple for protection, and modern spiritual complacency. They underscore the importance of genuine faithfulness to God rather than dependence on cultural or religious symbols. Themes of judgment, perseverance, and the consequences of unfaithfulness resonate deeply, making this episode both a cautionary tale and a call to spiritual integrity.

Additionally, the hosts emphasize the literary uniqueness of Lamentations, with its poetic structure and raw expression of grief. While the book does not conclude with overt optimism, glimpses of hope emerge, promising restoration for those who remain faithful. This mirrors the enduring relevance of its message in contemporary faith contexts, where trust in God’s character is critical, especially during trials.

Listeners are encouraged to reflect on Jeremiah's steadfast faith amid immense challenges and opposition, both external and internal. The episode challenges Christians to embrace lamentation as a valid expression of faith, promoting an authentic relationship with God in times of joy and sorrow. For those seeking deeper insights, the podcast offers supplemental resources to delve further into the prophetic writings of Jeremiah and Lamentations.

Ultimately, this episode serves as an inspiring reminder of the enduring lessons in Scripture, urging believers to anchor their hope in God rather than external circumstances or worldly assurance. It blends historical context, theological reflection, and practical application, making it a valuable resource for spiritual growth.

#GodsWholeStory #Lamentations #Jeremiah #BibleStudyPodcast #FaithfulLiving #ChristianLessons #BiblicalLament #ScriptureJourney #JerusalemFall #SpiritualPerseverance

Transcript

 GWS-Lamentations

GWS-Lamentations

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, you're listening to God's Whole Story. This year, we're taking a book by book journey throughout Scripture to see how God uses the story of Scripture to accomplish His purposes. If you enjoy the content, we would love to partner with you. Look at the show notes to see how you can do that, and we hope you enjoy this episode.

Hey everybody, welcome back to God's Whole Story. Today, Ryan and I are here, we're going to be talking about the book of Lamentations. I wonder how many of our listeners would, uh, say that, uh, Lamentations will make their top three books. Maybe, maybe nine. Uh, I'd be willing to guess zero. Yeah, yeah. You know, Lamentations is a really interesting book.

Um, it is typically ascribed to Jeremiah. Uh, and, uh, it, uh, is something that's, uh, it's a small book, which essentially can be looked at as one big lament. So, you know, in psalms in different places, and even just, uh, in expressions of Jewish worship, there was a [00:01:00] kind of psalm and things called a lament, which is, it's often a psalm of sadness, a psalm of grief.

Uh, and the entire book of Lamentations is one giant lament. It's also five smaller laments. Basically broken up chapter by chapter and there's a lot of interesting literary things that go into this that that are kind of interesting, but even just the concept of lament, I think is interesting that we have.

Here in God's word. Um, Ryan, tell us a little bit about what Jeremiah is lamenting, like kind of what is the occasion for this book? Um, and then we can maybe even talk about a few of the unique aspects of it. So this is almost certainly directly related to the fall of Jerusalem. That's fair, right? Um, yeah, absolutely.

And, um, I think one of the things that's interesting to me about it and, and we, we can easily fall into similar thinking here is that there was a time in the history of Israel where they actually believed [00:02:00] that just being in the presence of Jerusalem protected them. So, like, the, the, the thinking would have been something like, Hey.

This is God's city. Like God has promised the city God dwells in this city. And because God's presence in this city is guaranteed, this city is protected and will never fall. Now that we're good because of it. Right. Correct. And, and the important thing to recognize is that belief would have actually been completely detached from the promises of God, because the promises of God were essentially like, Hey, if you, um, Act this certain way.

If you honor me with your life, then I will honor you with my promises. But if you choose not to honor me with your life, um, I will work against you. That, that we, we talk a lot of times about the promises of God. And a lot of times that means like promises for good and promises for, um, you know, good. Hope and a future.

Um, but there are also times when God promises like, Hey, I, I will destroy you and I promise to do so. [00:03:00] And so they, they did not make a practice of studying those promises. Uh, in large part, they were not aware, uh, that God had promised to do that because their, their priestly class had failed and become wicked.

Their prophet class had failed and become wicked. And I talked about last week, like they, a lot of the leaders purposely surrounded themselves with people who. We're not people of God. Um, but we're committed to just speaking good things all the time. And there are, I think, parallels in our culture today where, where it's like, Hey, don't, you know, don't bog yourself down with all that Bible stuff.

Don't worry about the promises of God. Just know that God is for you and God is with you and God is, um, You know, once you to be profitable, um, a lot of times those things are true. Uh, but our individual and collective faithfulness is a very important part of that. And just like in Jeremiah's time where they just.

Ignore that altogether. They just believed that having a big city [00:04:00] with a big temple would protect them. I think sometimes we can fall into the same thing. Like, hey, we have a really high culturally Christian population and that means God will see us through and and You know, the reality is we have a really high cultural Christian population.

That does not mean that we have an actual faithful, uh, population. And I think, I think there are extreme similarities here. Um, you know, the difference is we are now under a new covenant, um, and, and there is grace and there is mercy, but God has not changed. And so it is important to recognize that, man, like we, we really do need to honor God with our lives.

And these, you know, Historical and cultural fixtures are not what save us. The temple doesn't save us. And in their time, they believed that the temple would save them. And so when it was utterly and completely destroyed and the people were under siege and the people were, you know, not doing well, it was a very violent [00:05:00] time.

Um, this was shocking and this was a complete affront to what everyone believed to be true. Yeah. Uh, the fall of Jerusalem, like it was not just like a change in leadership. It wasn't, um, you know, kind of a, a shifting of the tide. Like this was a multi year process. Babylon, uh, overthrew and, and conquered Jerusalem.

Ryan mentioned the idea of a siege, uh, off the top of my head. I'm believing, I think the seed was like 18 months. Um, if I remember, but it was over a year and it was, it was a significant blockade, like nothing in or out. That's why many people died of hunger. Um, it was, it was. Very violent. It would have been a very dark time to be in the city.

Yes, right there. Uh, in ancient warfare, an enemy would surround the city and not allow any food or goods or people in the city. But also they, uh, Basically kept everyone who was [00:06:00] in the city there that they could not leave. Um, so after a while, as you start running out of food, there, there are descriptions in the prophets of this time that they were, they were eating like pigeon dung.

Um, there's even horrible description in the book of lamentations about, uh, people eating their own children. Uh, and it is that kind of a horrific event. Uh, so yeah, there's going to be disease. There's going to be death. There's going to be all kinds of horrible things happening. And then finally, when Babylon does conquer, they go in and they destroy the city.

They ransacked the temple, they burn it to the ground. And it's almost like the God of Babylon is conquering the God of Jerusalem is how they would have seen it. Um, and so this was a devastating, uh, So much so that this, this event that happened in 586, uh, this is something that they then kind of memorialized just as we would [00:07:00] remember like D Day or 9 11 or some of the significant events, uh, throughout history, uh, This was something that they moralized because they wanted to remember it so they didn't repeat it.

Uh, and, uh, the Book of Lamentations that Jeremiah composes here, uh, this would have been something that would have been read at those times of remembrance in very somber ways. Uh, festivals festival sounds like you celebrate but sometimes it's just a commemorating a time in history and this was read aloud during that time to remind the people of just how horrible it was so they didn't repeat it.

So, when we talk about Jerusalem falling and Judah going to exile, it was a Cataclysmic event. Probably one of the most devastating things in history at that time, uh, in the way that people were treated. One of the kings even, King Zedekiah, Babylon, they gouged out his eyes [00:08:00] after they killed his children before him and then led him in chains.

Off to Babylon, like it was that kind of a treatment. It's certainly wasn't a children's movie or just a change of power. It, it was substantial. It's really interesting to, to compare the two perspectives then. Cause I've been trying to set up that Jeremiah has, Jeremiah has this perspective, like, like Daniel, like Ezekiel, that I will be faithful, regardless of my circumstances.

And the thing that they were up against, the false teaching that they were up against is that we know God is with us because we are doing well. And so when you have a, um, a raiding army that sets you under siege and kills your people and destroys your temple, it's really hard to believe that God is with you because everything's going well, because things are not going well.

And so it's interesting how, uh, folks that would have built their lives on success proves godliness. It would have all fallen [00:09:00] apart. And Jeremiah's faith would not have fallen apart at all. Like, like Jeremiah in some sense would have expected that hard times would come and would have believed that God is faithful regardless.

And so it's, it is a really interesting way to, I guess in our day to, to look at like, what does it mean to faithfully follow Christ? And how does that fly in the face of things like the prosperity gospel, um, where you're guaranteed to be profitable and well, always that that's just not true. It's not biblical.

Uh, certainly it was not true in Jeremiah's time. Uh, the other thing worth noting is that the, the temple really never recovers from this, um, it will be built again, but even the people that saw the second temple and remembered the first temple were ashamed of what the second temple looked like. And so some of them wept.

Yes. And, and, and the remains of these temples are. Like you can go see them. You can go put your hands on them. Like they are there. Uh, but it is important to recognize [00:10:00] that in 586 BC, the temple is destroyed. There is never a temple like that temple ever again. Um, it will be rebuilt by those who returned from exile, but I always call it the janky temple.

The second temple is just the janky temple. Um, the people that see it actually weep because of how disappointing it is. Is, um, you would expect them actually to be weeping because they're joyous that there is a new temple, but they actually are just reminded of how much more glorious the old temple was.

And so this is a, this is a lasting thing. I would, I would make the case that this is a lasting thing throughout our faith into even today. Um, just, just a reminder that what was there, uh, is. Not there any longer. And again, like we, we don't care. Like our, well, maybe that's not the best way to say it, but like our faith is not built on a temple.

Um, we are not hopeful because of a building we are now God's temple. God's spirit now dwells in us, in all of us who are faithful and believe. Um, so we are [00:11:00] now under that new covenant, but there is a, you know, if you're into archeology and digging things up, um, that temple has forever been affected. Yeah, I, I think that's true for sure.

It's a to remind us of that. And, um, I think even as I think about Lamentations 2, it's It's unique in that, uh, God puts a, a time of grief, a, a expression of sadness. Um, Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet, some from his ministry, but then also just the fact that, you know, he, he expressed sadness and grief over these things.

And I think some sometimes to that, that's something that we, we seem to have lost or maybe we even feel like, um, as Christians, we should be joyful and not grieve. Um, you know, we, we learned in Ecclesiastes, there's a time for all these things. Um, and when wickedness gets [00:12:00] so bad that, uh, The city, the temple, um, the lack of faithfulness of God's people is, is so bad that it results in a physical event like that, that that is worthy of lament, worthy of grief.

Um, and, and I think that's, we have permission because of this book to lament injustice, to lament sin, to, to grieve over things not being the way they should be. Um, and that's an appropriate expression in our walk with God. Amen. Uh, Lamentations shows us that. Mm-hmm . Um, it, it is worth noting too that lamentations it, it, I don't, I don't wanna give the picture that it ends on this really rosy note.

Um, but there are pieces of the hope of what is to come, and it is, it is metered. Like Lamentations is a heavy book. There's no question. I, it, it doesn't even like, I mean, if you read the last. two verses. It does not end on a high note. Um, but, but it does end on a note of, [00:13:00] even though there's issues here, even though there's struggles here, even though there's pain here, um, God is a God who will restore and who will revive.

And so I don't mean to make it seem rosier than, than it is. Go, go read it for yourself. You can see for yourself. Where it lands, but again, like Jeremiah does have that understanding that yes, punishment has come. Yes. Destruction has come and God will be faithful to those of us who persevere and are faithful to him and They're they're hopefully they look forward to a time of restoration, which we know that time of restoration came But it was 70 years from then right?

It was 70 years away So many in that generation did not see that restoration coming And this is the last we hear from Jeremiah. Oh man, what a guy. We, we do know like we mentioned last week that he, he probably ended his life in Egypt, but we don't, we don't really hear anything more about him, uh, other than this, uh, [00:14:00] small little book, um, that is meant to be remembered and reflected on.

Um, and so we, we can be grateful for Jeremiah for both of his contributions. Uh, Any other final thoughts? I would just say, if you are someone that hears this and does a deep dive into Jeremiah, uh, I, I think it is worthwhile. Um, and I think that Jeremiah serves as a great example to us to know God's word, to know the character of God and to persevere and be faithful to God, regardless of our circumstances.

And I think like when, when you meet people like that, you know who they are and They almost certainly are encouraging. It is really wild to see somebody that is going through very difficult times and circumstances and remains faithful. Um, and I think like, you know, one, if you are going through challenging circumstances, you might resonate with Jeremiah.

Um, but two, even if you're not going through tough [00:15:00] situations. It might be worth digging into Jeremiah because all of us will encounter will someday. Yeah. All of us will encounter difficult things. And my challenge would be to handle those things, um, with the spirit of Jeremiah and the spirit of Jeremiah is really just, um, unabashed faithfulness and he does not mind representing the truth of God.

Um, even when it's hard. Even when he's, you know, facing down a lot of people who do not believe him, um, he refuses to back off of what God has commanded. And so I think there, there's a piece there for all of us to be faithful to God, to know that he is caring for us, looking out for us, but also not to pin our hopes on our stuff or our positions or our circumstances, but ultimately to pin our hopes on our God who keeps us and holds us and promises, uh, to be there with us.

That reminds me of one of my takeaways through the years from jeremiah [00:16:00] as well Uh in light of his faithfulness the the other side of it is that even when you're faithful sometimes you will still face opposition from Believers or people who are in ministry or religious like some of these false teachers Um, and it might sound strange but uh the scene that jeremiah faced that and remained faithful Has been a source of encouragement uh for me in my life that You Opposition does come from within, uh, from your own team, uh, on in the church and it actually in some ways can be expected.

Um, if you're faithfully proclaiming things, but, uh, to not be surprised by it, but then to endure through it, um, and not feel like, why is this happening to me? This, we saw what happened to Jeremiah. He was putting stocks ended up in a cistern, you know, various things happened to him. Um, and if you, uh, are in the church, uh, or you're [00:17:00] even vocationally called to ministry, it's probably something that's going to happen, um, and to kind of know that there are broken people in those environments as well, but we want to remain faithful and not just Respond in bad ways to that office.

And I will add to that the, the only way that you can know, um, if you're in a situation like that is to know the word of God, to know the character of God, because you don't want to be going through a situation like that. Um, Assuming that you are working on God's behalf when in fact you are not, um, it's, it's wildly important to be aware of what God has taught, what God expects, who God is, um, and the, the only way you can do that.

And I mean, that's why we do this podcast. We are passionate about knowing the truth of God that's been revealed in his word. And so just like Jeremiah was a student of the word when very few other people were, um, it is very important today. To be a student of the word to know that you are standing in a [00:18:00] position that is.

Appropriate and is, um, you know, representing God because Jeremiah was surrounded by lots of people who thought they were representing God, and they were not. Yeah, absolutely. Well, also want to just give a quick reminder that if you are looking for a little bit more of a deep dive into some of the writings of Jeremiah, both in the book of Jeremiah and limitations.

We do have our daily podcast that has been out for a while, which breaks it up in much more bite sized pieces. You can get a lot more in depth into the various chapters. Take a look back at season one where we go day by day through the book of Jeremiah and Limitations. There will be a whole lot more information on this incredible guy and these incredible books in that podcast.

Well, thanks so much for joining us, uh, on this episode of Lamentations. We will see you next time. Goodbye. See [00:19:00] ya.