Righteous Affliction and Repentance

Lamentations 1:12-22

12 "Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Behold and see
If there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
Which has been brought on me,
Which the LORD has inflicted
In the day of His fierce anger.

13 "From above He has sent fire into my bones,
And it overpowered them;
He has spread a net for my feet
And turned me back;
He has made me desolate
And faint all the day.

14 "The yoke of my transgressions was bound;
They were woven together by His hands,
And thrust upon my neck.
He made my strength fail;
The Lord delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.

15 "The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst;
He has called an assembly against me
To crush my young men;
The Lord trampled as in a winepress
The virgin daughter of Judah.

16 "For these things I weep;
My eye, my eye overflows with water;
Because the comforter, who should restore my life,
Is far from me.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy prevailed."

17 Zion spreads out her hands,
But no one comforts her;
The LORD has commanded concerning Jacob
That those around him become his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

18 "The LORD is righteous,
For I rebelled against His commandment.
Hear now, all peoples,
And behold my sorrow;
My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.

19 "I called for my lovers,
But they deceived me;
My priests and my elders
Breathed their last in the city,
While they sought food
To restore their life.

20 "See, O LORD, that I am in distress;
My soul is troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very rebellious.
Outside the sword bereaves,
At home it is like death.

21 "They have heard that I sigh,
But no one comforts me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
They are glad that You have done it.
Bring on the day You have announced,
That they may become like me.

22 "Let all their wickedness come before You,
And do to them as You have done to me
For all my transgressions;
For my sighs are many,
And my heart is faint."

The righteous affliction of Israel was due to their continued unrepentant sin against the LORD and which Jeremiah laments here.  He talks of such immense sorrow for the sins of his people and the righteous judgment come upon them all as a result.  They were bound by the consequences of sin which is God’s hand of justice and handed over into captivity to learn to worship and follow the LORD only and not idolatry and the immortality of striving against His word (Isaiah 45:9).  The judgment of the LORD was by the bondage of captivity in a sinful land as a result of their bondage to sin, and they were meant to learn obedience through suffering to repentance and change of heart and mind in such grace instead of being entirely destroyed as they deserved.  Such is God’s grace to us all in Christ.  The weeping prophet continued to mourn his people as comfort seemed out of reach and the people seemed unwilling to change.  Yes, as Jeremiah spoke in the voice of Jerusalem and Judah carried away into suffering, he acknowledged that the LORD is just and fair in righteous judgment for their sin.  This is confession of sin.  He also realized that outside help which was not from God’s hand was utterly useless and ineffective, no matter what the counsel and guidance of the leaders of God’s people said to the contrary.  He cried out to the LORD in anguish of soul as he confessed the rebellion of his people against God’s law and person as the sword of justice cut down many all around.  His sighs brought no comfort and only added to the happiness of their enemies surrounding them as onlookers of their sorry state.  He prayed that God would bring retribution on their enemies for their own wickedness as they had suffered for their own sins.  His sighs were many and his heart was faint.  Have we wrestled with tears like this with our own sin against God and His word and come to such confession of sin and repentance by faith to come into Christ by God’s grace of forgiveness and reconciliation?  May we examine our hearts (2 Corinthians 13:5, 2 Peter 1:10-11) and do so if we read this and have not already done so.  This is not just for Israel in the times of bondage in Babylonian captivity, but is a message for us all.