LAMENTATIONS LESSON 4


     We will begin this lesson in Lamentations 3:34 "To crush under
his feet all the prisoners of the earth," Lamentations 3:35 "To turn
aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,"

     In the last lesson, we began on this series. It seems Jeremiah is
speaking as if he is the person this is happening to. This is either a
representative person of Jerusalem, or Jerusalem. These verses are of
the calamity that has come upon the people of Jerusalem. The man has
lost his right to pray, because of his repeated sin of worshipping
false gods.

     Lamentations 3:36 "To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord
approveth not."

     It is as if this person is saying, that this cannot possibly be
God, because God is not against man. He forgets that man caused this
separation.

     Lamentations 3:37  "Who [is] he [that] saith, and it cometh to
pass, [when] the Lord commandeth [it] not?"

     The truth is, not even a sparrow falls, except the Lord allow it.
God is in control of His entire creation. We can say a thing all we
want to, but unless God commands it, it will not happen.

     Lamentations 3:38 "Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth
not evil and good?"

     This is a question, not a statement. The same God that is love
is, also, the Judge. God does love more than any man can understand,
but each of us will be judged one at a time, and punished, or rewarded
according to that judgement.

     Lamentations 3:39 "Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man
for the punishment of his sins?"

     What right does a man have to complain for punishment for the
sins he committed? The answer is no right at all. God is just. We all
want His grace, but we do not want His justice.

     Lamentations 3:40 "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again
to the LORD."

     This is something that everyone living should do, and not just
these Israelites. We should all examine ourselves, and see whether we
be of God, or not. Just to say we are of God, is not enough. We must
live the salvation that we have received everyday. Christianity is no
good, unless it is an everyday affair. Turn to the Lord, while He can
be found. He will help us stay on the narrow path, after we get there.

     Lamentations 3:41 "Let us lift up our heart with [our] hands unto
God in the heavens."

     When we lift up our hands in praise to God in heaven, it is an
outward expression of the submission to Him in our hearts. He will
judge the condition of our hearts.

     Lamentations 3:42 "We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou
hast not pardoned."

     To be pardoned, one must truly be sorry for the sins he
committed. Rebellion is next to witchcraft. The way to be pardoned, is
to have a total change of heart.

     Lamentations 3:43 "Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted
us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied."

     Pity is not what we need. Forgiveness and mercy is what we need.
God's judgement is carried out. We must remember that there is a time,
when God has lost patience with our sin. This is what had happened
here. God's wrath had come up in His face, and He carried out the
punishment for their sin.

     Lamentations 3:44 "Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that
[our] prayer should not pass through."

     All the messages, that God sent them by the prophets, were
rejected. Now, He rejects their prayers. He has closed His ears to
their requests.

     Lamentations 3:45 "Thou hast made us [as] the offscouring and
refuse in the midst of the people."

     The lands around them, that had treated them with such great
respect, have no respect for them now. They are abandoned by their
God. They have no friends.

     Lamentations 3:46 "All our enemies have opened their mouths
against us."

     Their enemies are speaking badly of them, because of their
obvious sin against their God.

     Lamentations 3:47 "Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation
and destruction."

     They had so many fears, now, it is hard to know where to start.
They were afraid of starving, or being killed. They had never known
fear, because of the protection God had provided. Now, He is not
fighting for them. They have nothing. All is lost.

     Lamentations 3:48 "Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for
the destruction of the daughter of my people." Lamentations 3:49 "Mine
eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,"
Lamentations 3:50 "Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven."
     The crying is at first like a river for the amount of tears shed.
Then the tears begin to dry up, and began to be just a trickle. He has
determined to cry out, until God looks from heaven, and hears the
prayers.

     Lamentations 3:51 "Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all
the daughters of my city."

     The things he sees with his eye is breaking his heart.

     Lamentations 3:52 "Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird,
without cause."

     Sometimes birds are chased just for the sport. This is just
saying that the cause was not the one's who was chasing. The cause was
God's.

     Lamentations 3:53 "They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and
cast a stone upon me."

     This is all intertwined with Jeremiah, and the city he loved so.
He speaks as if he is that city, and that people, and yet as if part
of this was things he suffered himself. Jeremiah was put into a
cistern and left to die.

     Lamentations 3:54 "Waters flowed over mine head; [then] I said, I
am cut off."

     Jeremiah had been cut off, when he was held prisoner, but this
is, probably, speaking of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was cut off from God.

     Lamentations 3:55  "I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the
low dungeon."

     Jeremiah was held in the cistern, and they had to take ropes to
pull him out of. Undoubtedly, he cried to God during this time.

     Lamentations 3:56 "Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear
at my breathing, at my cry." Lamentations 3:57 "Thou drewest near in
the day [that] I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not."

     God heard Jeremiah, and answered him back, to fear not. Jeremiah
is, now, crying out for the people of Jerusalem, and wants God to give
him the same attention, as he did when he was in the cistern.

     Lamentations 3:58 "O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my
soul; thou hast redeemed my life."

     There is no doubt at all that God spared Jeremiah's life in this
war with Babylon, and even when the people had turned against him, and
imprisoned him. God saved Jeremiah's life.

     Lamentations 3:59 "O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my
cause."
     He is pleading for Jerusalem. His cause is in behalf of the
people of Jerusalem.

     Lamentations 3:60 "Thou hast seen all their vengeance [and] all
their imaginations against me."  Lamentations 3:61 "Thou hast heard
their reproach, O LORD, [and] all their imaginations against me;"

     This is against Jerusalem. "Me" is Jerusalem, here. God sees all.
He does not overlook anything. It is as if Jeremiah is pleading with
God, that they have suffered enough.

     Lamentations 3:62 "The lips of those that rose up against me, and
their device against me all the day."

     The lips are mentioned, because it pertains to words coming from
their mouths.

     Lamentations 3:63 "Behold their sitting down, and their rising
up; I [am] their music."

     Jeremiah, again, is pleading for God to be aware of their daily
hardships. The only good they hear is from Jeremiah, and he is like
music in their ear.

     Lamentations 3:64  "Render unto them a recompence, O LORD,
according to the work of their hands."

     "Recompence" means to be safe in mind body or estate.

     Lamentations 3:65 "Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto
them."

     This is asking for Babylon to be judged for their sins they
committed against Jerusalem.

     Lamentations 3:66 "Persecute and destroy them in anger from under
the heavens of the LORD."

     We are not to avenge ourselves. God will take vengeance on those
who have sinned. He is the Judge. Jeremiah is speaking for Jerusalem
here. They will not take vengeance, but want God to.













                       Lamentations 4 Questions


1.  Why has the man lost his right to pray?
2.  Who caused the separation between God and man?
3.  Who is in control of everything?
4.  Wherefore doth a living man ____________?
5.  What is one thing that all living should do?
6.  When we lift up our hands to God in heaven, it is what?
7.  To be pardoned, one must be ________ _______.
8.  Pity is not what we need. We need __________ and _________.
9.  Why does there seem to be a cloud between their prayers and God?
10. Who has lost respect for these Israelites?
11. What were some of their fears?
12. Why are the tears like a river, in verse 48, and just a trickle in
    verse 49?
13. What is breaking his heart in verse 51?
14. Who is verse 53 speaking of?
15. Where had he called upon the name of the LORD from?
16. God answered Jeremiah's prayer by telling him to _______ ______.
17. Whose life is verse 58 speaking of?
18. Who is Jeremiah pleading for?
19. What does it seem Jeremiah is pleading about in verse 60 and 61?
20. What does lips indicate in verse 62?
21. Why does Jeremiah call himself their music?
22. What does "recompence" mean?
23. Who does Jeremiah ask God to judge?
24. Who is the only one to avenge?