lamentations 3 explained
Historical Books You perceive there is not a word concerning himself or his own pleadings. He must therefore quietly wait. They did it by despising him (their reproach), with schemes, with whispering lies, and their taunting song against him. It is easier to chide ourselves for complaining than to chide ourselves out of it. a. He answers in the following verses, 1. If men injure them by force of arms, God does not approve of that. Lamentations 1:3. They look upon the Jewish nation as dead and buried, and imagine that there is not possibility of its resurrection. He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; That woe and well-being proceed? c. In Your anger, pursue and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD: Jerusalem and Judah had faced the anger of God and the destruction that came from it. Without interruption, 8. Darkness is put for great trouble and perplexity, the want both of comfort and of direction; this was the case of the complainant (Lamentations 3:2; Lamentations 3:2): "He has led meby his providence, and an unaccountable chain of events, into darkness and not into light,the darkness I feared and not into the light I hoped for." Till the LORD from heaven 7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. In the process of remembering Gods attributes, Jeremiah was drawn back into living fellowship and intimate communion with his faithful God. (Ryken). This is here laid down as a great truth, which will help to quiet our spirits under our afflictions and to sanctify them to us. No; he has more reason to be thankful for life than to complain of any of the burdens and calamities of life. When a man hopes for salvation, he should not only wait for it, but use every means that may lead to it; for hope cannot live, if there be no exercise. He is the Most High, whose authority over them they contemn by abusing their authority over their subjects, not considering that he that is higher than the highest regardeth, Eccl 5 8. The sufferers in the captivity must submit to the will of God in all their sufferings. VI. Verse 48. Major Prophets He does not dispense his frowns as he does his favours, ex mero motufrom his mere good pleasure. Here we find a different feeling; he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God, and then his hope revives, Lamentations 3:21. Your partnership makes all we do possible. Many have found it good to bear this in youth; it has made those humble and serious, and has weaned them from the world, who otherwise would have been proud and unruly, and as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Every morning brings new forgiveness for new sins. i. God therefore disapproves heartily of any attempt to deprive an individual of his rights in the law (36), or to condemn him unjustly. (Harrison). Judge my case. 4. The prophet tells us: 3. Are we suffering for our sins? II. And I said, My strength and my hope Poetical Books The faithful lament their calamities, and hope in God's mercies. (2.) What does Lamentations chapter 3 mean? | BibleRef.com Are we healthful or sickly, rich or poor? He has been to me a bear lying in wait, They were under Gods severe discipline, and that because of their deep and persistent sin. He has made my chain heavy: As the convict sometimes drags about his chain, and has a ball at his foot, so the prophet felt as if God had clogged him with a heavy chain, so that he could not move because of its terrible weight. (Spurgeon). Yes, this was Jeremiah, but it certainly was not only him. That though he makes use of men as his hand, or rather instruments in his hand, for the correcting of his people, yet he is far from being pleased with the injustice of their proceedings and the wrong they do them, v. 34-36. He has bent His bow: This figure shows the power of the archers arm, which transfixed the poet with arrows. (Ellison), ii. Gerlach has rightly opposed to these arguments the following considerations: (1) That, after the outburst of despair in Lamentations 3:18, "my strength is gone, and my hope from Jahveh," the words "my soul is bowed down in me" form far too feeble a conclusion; (2) That it is undoubtedly more correct to make the relief begin with a prayer breathed so Job argues, ch. I see nothing but misery; and I feel, in consequence, nothing but pain. Early discipline is equally so. If inward impressions do not answer to outward expressions, we mock God, and deceive ourselves. Looks down and sees. When they were in the low dungeon, as free among the dead, they called upon God's name (v. 55); their weeping did not hinder praying. For the Lord will not cast off forever: The suffering endured was not everlasting. I have even given up all for gone, concluding, My strength and my hope have perished from the Lord (v. 18); I can no longer stay myself upon God as my support, for I do not find that he gives me encouragement to do so; nor can I look for his appearing in my behalf, so as to put an end to my troubles, for the case seems remediless, and even my God inexorable." Thus emphatically does he speak of his affliction, for thus did he think of it, thus heavily did it lie when he reviewed it! Those whom thou cursest are cursed indeed. And could God hear them out of the low dungeon, and would he? It is he that causes grief, and therefore we may be assured it is ordered wisely and graciously; and it is but for a season, and when need is, that we are in heaviness, 1 Pet 1 6. "When I have lost all I have in the world, liberty, and livelihood, and almost life itself, yet I have not lost my interest in God." Jeremiah had no other place of satisfaction, so he was settled with the portion received, and that portion was the LORD Himself. Duty prescribed in this afflicted state, ver 37-41. My eyes overflow with rivers of water a. That, whatever sorrow we are in, it is what God has allotted us, and his hand is in it. Do not fear: How powerful is this word when spoken by the Spirit of the Lord to a disconsolate heart. I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. Incident In Ramsey Cambs Today,
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lamentations 3 explained