Lamentations 3:4-19 "My flesh and my skin hath HE made old: HE hath broken my bones. HE hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. HE hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. HE hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: HE hath made my chain heavy. Also when I cry and shout, HE shutteth out my prayer. HE hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone, HE hath made my paths crocked. HE was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. HE hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: HE hath made me desolate.
HE hath bent HIS bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. HE hath caused the arrows of HIS quiver to enter into my reins. I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day. HE hath filled me with bitterness, HE hath made me drunken with wormwood. HE hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, HE hath covered me with ashes. And THOU hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgot prosperity. And I said, MY strength and my hope is perished from the LORD: Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall."
Jeremiah described something evidently visible when he wrote that he was "made old" -- an expression of rapid aging (v.4a); he also noted an ailment that was invisible with him: "HE hath broken my bones" (v.4b cf. Psalm 38:2-3). The effects of sin, whether caused by ourselves or others, impact the body and soul. Sometimes these consequences are initially undetected, but eventually they catch up with us. Unresolved sin often results in bitterness (v.5 pictured above) --"gall and travail." Humanly speaking, it is a hopeless situation with no solution (vv.7-9). Jeremiah's prayers for the LORD's help were not answered as he desired (v.8), and it appeared that he had no way out of his predicament (v.7). The prophet experienced GOD's judgment in a personal way. He equated the LORD with "a bear" and "a lion" (v.10) that were just waiting for him to come along as prey. Furthermore, he felt he was a target into which "the arrow of HIS quiver" (v.13) landed when GOD bent "HIS bow" (v.12). In other words, it seemed to Jeremiah that he was the specific object of GOD's judgment.
Jeremiah provided some vivid images of his tribulations. He was "a derision" to the people (v.14). They mocked him -- continually laughing at him and about him. He was in "bitterness" and "misery, the wormwood and the gall" (a bitter tasting plant, vv.15,19). He had no hope of peace (v.17 pictured above). He experienced affliction at the hands of those who professed to be GOD's chosen people. Is it any different for us ? We must not expect the world, or even wayward fellow brethren, to treat us kindly or understand the things we say, or why we say them, when we declare, "Thus saith the LORD." GDF
Your servant in CHRIST,
Julie
Copyright, FEATURE: A Daily Bible Study Guide.
Used with permission. www.featoday.org
https://fivestarchristianministries.com/salvation
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