April 21st, 2016
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Repentant and Restored

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Opening Prayer

Eternal God, in You and Your Word are all the treasures of wisdom, truth and holiness. How great You are.

Read Lamentations 5:1-22

[1] Remember, LORD, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace. [2] Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. [3] We have become fatherless, our mothers are widows. [4] We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price. [5] Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are weary and find no rest. [6] We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread. [7] Our ancestors sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment. [8] Slaves rule over us, and there is no one to free us from their hands. [9] We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the desert. [10] Our skin is hot as an oven, feverish from hunger. [11] Women have been violated in Zion, and virgins in the towns of Judah. [12] Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect. [13] Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood. [14] The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped their music. [15] Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning. [16] The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! [17] Because of this our hearts are faint, because of these things our eyes grow dim [18] for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it. [19] You, LORD, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. [20] Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? [21] Restore us to yourself, LORD, that we may return; renew our days as of old [22] unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Meditate

“Restore, O Lord, the honor of Your name, in works of sovereign power come shake the earth again” (Graham Kendrick and Chris Rolinson). God has done it in the past and can do it again!

Think Further

This, the shortest poem in the book, has much in common with the lament psalms. The acrostic device is abandoned, perhaps indicating that we have reached the conclusion. It repeats many of the earlier themes. The dire situation is described: invasion, occupation, starvation, rape, servitude, the collapse of social order and the destruction of the worship center. Little wonder that joy has been replaced by mourning (15). Finally, however, we have moved beyond expressions of grief to a direct appeal to God. Previously God has been invited to observe their fate, now he is called on to act (19-22).

Can they–or we–be sure that he will? There is no question that God reigns, nor that he is able to deliver. Commentators are divided on whether the book ends on a note of despair or of hope, but the way in which Lamentations is constructed suggests that this depicts the point at which the nation finally feels able to take its complaint directly to God. If it was used as a liturgy, this is the point when relief can be found in turning to God, leading to a breakthrough for the sufferer. Prayer for restoration does not finally resolve the sense of desolation and failure, but it is an indication that there is a way back which can be left in God’s hands.

From our perspective, we know that there is always a way back made available for us by Christ. John promises us that forgiveness and restoration are always possible (1 John 1:9). Jesus’ conversation with Peter on the beach is a model of restoration in practice (John 21:15-23). In Christ we can know that God has not utterly rejected us (22), but this does not mean that there will not be times when we feel forsaken. Those are the times to make the closing words our own.

Apply

Do you feel in any way you are bearing punishment and pain for the sins of prior generations? Why or why not? How can the cycle be broken?

Closing prayer

Merciful Lord, create in me a clean heart. Forgive my sins and point me in the right direction so that my life can count for you.

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