Lamentations 2
COMMENTARY:
: 9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; HE has destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD. (2377 “vision” [chazown] means communication from God, prophecy, oracle, or revelation.)
DEVOTION: This book gives us an acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet in each chapter. Each verse of each chapter begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. There are twenty two letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The third chapter has three verses to each letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
This chapter informs us of the anger of the LORD. One of the attributes of the LORD is long-suffering. HE doesn’t want any to perish. However, there comes a time period when the LORD gives people over to their desires. The children of Judah had desires for false gods and false prophets. They wanted their ears to be itched with false teaching. The leaders of the nation gave them what they wanted.
Each chapter is talking about Jeremiah’s cry regarding the fall of Jerusalem. The fall of Jerusalem happened because the people of God were not listening and obeying the LORD.
One of the signs that the LORD was no longer with them is that there was no fresh revelation of the will of the LORD to the prophets from the LORD. They had stopped listening and therefore HE didn’t give them any fresh messages from HIM. Their false prophets told them that they were receiving visions from the LORD but they were lying.
We have the complete Bible today. It warns that we are not to add to or take away from the word of the LORD. Does this mean that the LORD doesn’t speak to us today? NO!! HE speaks to us through HIS word. HE gives us instruction through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This instruction is not adding to the Word of God but complementing the Word of God.
There are times when the Holy Spirit directs us to witness to an individual. There are times when the Holy Spirit directs us to help an individual in need. There are times when the Holy Spirit warns us of trouble.
Does this add to the Bible? NO!! In the Old Testament times there was not a completed Bible. They needed fresh messages from the LORD.
Our fresh messages can come from Bible teachers who are in tune with the LORD in their Sunday messages. They yield to the Holy Spirit who was promised to teach us all things that we need to know regarding our life in Christ. The Holy Spirit instructs men filled with HIM regarding what the Word of God is saying.
There is enough revelation in our Bible to keep us busy for the rest of our lives – IF we are willing to follow HIS instructions. Are we listening to the Word of God??? Are we seeking more revelation than has been sent by God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit? Our 66 books of the Bible are enough.
CHALLENGE: Watch out for those who say they have a fresh revelation from the LORD. Watch out for those who say what we want to hear. Be willing to hear the hard things of the Word of God.
: 14 Your prophets have seen vain and foolish things for you: and they have not discovered your iniquity, to turn away your captivity; but have seen for you false burdens and causes of banishment. (4853 “burdens” [massa’] means song, prophecy, oracle, utterance, pronouncement, or load.)
DEVOTION: Here we have men and women who told the people what they wanted to hear. It was false teaching but the people didn’t care because they wanted their ears tickled.
These were supposed to be men who were called of God to give the people the message of the LORD. This word means song, as well as pronouncement. I found this interesting because today as then there were religious songs being sung that didn’t give a proper teaching. The words of their songs were false as far as their teaching concerning the Word of God.
Many new songs can fall into this category in our churches today. The message sounds OK but in reality they are not teaching what is true in the Word of God. They are entertaining but not true.
So even today we have men and women who say they are honoring the LORD with their message but it is a false message. We have to listen to the words of the singers as well as the preachers and check them out by the standard of the Word of God.
The religious songs and messages might sound good to the ears but the teaching can hinder our growth in the LORD because we think they are true without checking them out in the Bible.
CHALLENGE: When you listen to a singer or preacher make sure you check the teaching or message in the Word of God for accuracy.
: 15 All that pass by clap their hands at you, they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying Is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? (3632 “perfection” [kaliyl] means entirely, complete, being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish, or totality.)
DEVOTION: Here we find people walking by the present city of Jerusalem after the captivity of the people by the Babylonians. They talk of the former beauty of the city but now it has been ravished by the army of the Babylonian army.
The people are gone. The city is burned. The precious things of the city are on their way to Babylon. This is all happening because the children of Israel stopped following the LORD and thought that they didn’t need HIM to protect them from their enemies.
False worship was one of the reasons for the destruction of the city. They thought they could put the LORD on a god shelf and still have all the blessing HE had promised them. They were wrong.
Today we find that many people who claim to be believers in Jesus Christ are not really worshiping HIM as much as they are putting HIM on a god shelf in their life just like the children of Israel did in the Old Testament.
God is not ONE who can be put on a shelf with other things we like to worship. HE wants to be exclusive in our life and in our world. HE wants us to go to HIM and depend on HIM every moment of every day.
This can only happen if we are genuine worshiping HIM in spirit and in truth regularly with confession of sin when we see it in our life.
If we are reading our Bible and looking for ways to better serve the LORD, we will see the sin in our life and confess it and stop practicing it. We will never reach perfection but with the help of the LORD HE can give us good directions and when we are following them HE can bless us daily.
CHALLENGE: Each day is a new day with the LORD. Confession of sin has to be a daily practice with a heart that means to live a life that is pleasing to HIM. HE will help us each day we are dedicated to HIS service with confession.
: 17 The LORD has done that which HE had devised; HE has fulfilled HIS word that HE had commanded in the days of old: HE has thrown down, and has not pitied: and HE that caused your enemy to rejoice over you, HE has set up the horn of your adversaries. (1214 “fulfilled” [batsa‘] means to finish, complete, accomplish, or perfect.)
DEVOTION: The prophecies of Jeremiah have come true. This book is the outpouring of grief that Jeremiah felt when he observed all that was happening to the city of Jerusalem and her people.
They were warned many times over a period of many years but they would not listen. Their kings knew what was going to happen but refused the help of the LORD.
In this chapter we find the two words for the name of God. One name is Adonai which means owner or master. HE is the owner of the universe. HE had a special place HE allowed to have HIS glory shown on many occasions. This place represented a special location where the LORD commanded HIS people to go on regular occasions. HE used the prophet to inform the people that HE owned the land.
The second name for God was Jehovah. This name states that HE had a special relationship with HIS people. HE was a personal God to them. HE wanted to bless them. HE wanted their obedience.
So as a PERSONAL GOD that owned the universe tried to communicate with HIS people about HIS future actions they should have listened. They did not.
Did their not listening change HIS plans? NO!!! HE was going to finish the work HE said HE would. HE was going to complete HIS plan. HE knew before the foundation of the world what was going to happen.
It is hard for us to understand but one thought we need to understand is that God lives outside of time and we live in time. HE can see the beginning and the end. We can only see the present with memories of the past and thought regarding the future. We cannot see the beginning and the end.
We have a promise that our end will be good if our relationship with the LORD is good. That can only happen with a time of repentance where we turn in the right direction with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Jeremiah was faithful to the LORD with his message and his life. He didn’t like what he was seeing happen to Jerusalem even though he knew it was going to happen because the LORD told him it was. He knew God kept HIS word.
Our Bible instructs us to follow the LORD in a certain way and if we do, we will be blessed. If we fail to follow HIS instructions, we will suffer the consequences.
CHALLENGE: Know that God has a plan for our life and HE is working HIS plan. HE will keep all HIS promises to us. Thank HIM.
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