July 26th, 2011
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

When God Seems Deaf

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Opening Prayer

Gracious Lord, may I live all this day with an awareness that Your living presence dwells within me.

Read Lamentations 3:34-66

[34] To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, [35] to deny a man his rights before the Most High, [36] to deprive a man of justice- would not the Lord see such things? [37] Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? [38] Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? [39] Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? [40] Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. [41] Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: [42] “We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven. [43] “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity. [44] You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. [45] You have made us scum and refuse among the nations. [46] “All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us. [47] We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction.” [48] Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. [49] My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief, [50] until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees. [51] What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city. [52] Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird. [53] They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me; [54] the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to be cut off. [55] I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit. [56] You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.” [57] You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.” [58] O Lord, you took up my case; you redeemed my life. [59] You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause! [60] You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me. [61] O LORD, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me- [62] what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long. [63] Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs. [64] Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, for what their hands have done. [65] Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them! [66] Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“If only I knew where to find him: if only I could go to his dwelling” (Job 23:3)! Through Christ, God is near us, with us.

Think Further

After the settled expressions of trust in God at the end of yesterday’s reading, today’s section is much more conflict-ridden and upsetting. There is no doubt that personal and national trauma (46-51, for example) has cut deep. The tears flow, yet there is still a grip on the true nature of God and our position before him. God is omnipotent. Whoever gives the orders may not be aware that God’s permissive power is behind him, but it is (37). Compare Romans 13:1.

There is a lesson about patience here, too. The advice to be patient is one of the most frustrating to receive. For those who are really suffering, I find it almost impertinent. Notice what happens here. In one section (40-45), there is an unexceptionable call to repentance and prayer, but it appears not to work. God appears to have cut himself off. The prayers are not getting through and, eventually, it feels like drowning (54). Then, there is a big change: in v. 56 God does hear, and in v. 57 he actually speaks. The relief is palpable, and the words and thoughts start tumbling out. When he asks God to “pay them back” (64), is that a desire for revenge on his enemies that we can understand but pass over in the spirit of the New Testament (see Matt. 5:43-46), or is it a godly desire for justice?

Back in the main body of Jeremiah’s prophecy (Jer. 18:7-10), the connection between good or evil in a nation, and God’s attitude to it, seems more or less automatic. When there is a serious delay, as in this chapter, there is no harm in being frank and honest with God as long as we can be equally frank and honest about our own—and our church’s—shortcomings.

Apply

Try using vs. 40 and 41 as a starting point for self-examination. Ask God for eyes to see and a spirit to repent of any shortcomings you uncover.

Closing prayer

Loving Father, at times I sense a distance between us. Forgive me if my sins have caused this. Enable me learn lessons that will mature me in Christ.

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