Message Notes
As we turn to Lamentations chapter 2 we find more of the same: pain and devastation caused by sin. What should we do when we find ourselves at rock bottom and it’s no one’s fault but our own? In verse 19 of chapter 2 God’s people are encouraged to ”pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him…”
On one hand it seems strange that anyone would cry out to the very God that we are told in verse 17 “has done what he purposed.” On the other hand we’ve probably all been there haven’t we? We got caught. We are staring at the consequences and devastation caused by our sin. We went way further than we ever thought we would and the fall out is way worse than we ever thought it would be. We are at a loss for words (see verse 10). All we know to do in that moment, all we can do in that moment is pray to God.
Why is that?
The theme of our time together in chapter 2 Sunday will be what we all know but can’t seem to articulate in that moment: God disciplines those he loves. God’s discipline isn’t something where he puts his love to the side and beats us and then picks his love back up after he’s done. His discipline is one of the many proofs we have that he loves us. It is his love toward us. If I love my children I don’t let them “get away with murder” as the saying goes. If I love my children, I practice corrective discipline so that they will stay away from the things that will hurt them and love the things that will be good for them. God isn’t like us in this regard – we are like him in this. He is the perfect Father. His ways are higher than our ways. He loves his children and it’s precisely because of that love that we hit rock bottom, get caught, fall on our face, or get busted. If you don’t love your children you let them do whatever they want no matter the consequences. If you love your children you tell them to stop doing things that will hurt them. If they don’t listen you raise your voice. And if they continue not listening eventually you do whatever you have to do to get their attention even if that means momentary pain. There is a passage from the new testament that explains exactly what is happening to God people in Lamentations:
… And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us FOR OUR GOOD, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:5-11
I hope to see everyone Sunday as we dive further into the 2nd chapter of Lamentations!
JACOB MALONE
