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By Sam Smith|Published Date: March 11, 2010
Lamentations 3:14-16
14I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. 15He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. 16He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;
The Story: There is no denying that something had gone terribly wrong. It was assumed that evidence of the existence or at least the power of a region’s god was demonstrated by his providing and protecting the people. But, which god was the true God? Baal, Yahweh, or who? Further, it is believed that the real God rewards those with whom He is pleased and punishes those with whom He is angry. Such one dimensional thinking has often led to wrong conclusions only revealed in time. Defeat in battle gave opportunity for the victors to gloat as they assumed they understood the answer to the questions.
After successive declensions of the once great Davidic empire, the last postage-stamp size territory felt, and in doing so, negated the prior boasts. In reality, the last hopeful stir of national revival came under Josiah nearly forty years earlier, and since that time worship and obedience to the Lord had slipped badly in the hearts of the kings and people of Judah and Jerusalem. Now, the nation was no more, and it would seem that the centuries-long question of whose god was God was at last answered. Yet the story is not ending, and the voice of the prophet is about to unveil an ancient perspective that will be the basis for recovering hope.
The Structure: Even as he was on the road to vindication of his truthfulness, Jeremiah had himself been the laughingstock of his own people. He keenly understood the anguish of soul of being ridiculed, painfully remembering the occasions when he was summarily rejected even as He spoke the words of the Lord (Jer. 20:1-6; 37:11-38:13; 43:1-7). Now, it was Jerusalem’s remnant that received derisive insults. Therefore, Jeremiah’s starting point of describing his own bitterness is his way of extending genuine empathy and drawing his fellow suffers a bit closer.
In searching through your own occasions of suffering—whether mental or physical anguish or both—are you now being brought into another’s life as a consoling and empathetic voice?
For more information on this topic, get the book, Jeremiah, Lamentations, by Tremper Longman III. Or read the article, “The Church Under Siege,” by Chuck Colson.
The Worldview Bible examines the teaching of Scripture according to the Story and Structure of Truth – the Framework of Christian Worldview – using only other Scriptures for illumination. Information about The Framework of Truth is available on this site. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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