DAILY FOUNTAIN DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
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Wedday, February 21
Text: 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.”
- 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.”
Lamentations 1:12-22 NKJV
Topic: THE LORD IS RIGHTEOUS!
MESSAGE
In verses 12, 16 and 20 of our reading, the writer expresses his deep distress and pain over the destruction of Jerusalem. He personifies it by using personal pronouns such as “I”, “me”, “my” in every verse with the exception of verse 17. He associates himself fully with the sins of the people, and consequences of those sins (vs. 14, 18). This is the same attitude that Daniel and Nehemiah displayed when they prayed for the nation (Dan. 9: 4-6; Neh. 1: 5-7). Rather than just complain about the woes of our country, may we learn to present our nation regularly before God, and plead for forgiveness.
In verse 18, the Lord is acknowledged as righteous. Thus, all the sufferings experienced by the nation are the results of God’s righteous judgments on her (v12). This includes the invasion by a foreign army (v15), weakness of the people and their armed forces (vs.14 – 15) and the exile of the young men and women (v18), among others. Again, the fact that no one is able to comfort or help her is re-echoed in verses 16, 17 and 21. He calls on this righteous God to have mercy (vs.18, 20). We cannot do less than that!
Prayer: O Lord, see the distress upon our nation, and have mercy.