The Lamentations Of Jeremiah

Overview – March 2016 – Grace & Truth Magazine

The Lamentations Of Jeremiah

“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.” —Lamentations 1:12 NKJV

This is a book of deepest sorrow, written after Judah went into captivity and the city of Jerusalem was reduced to desolation. Yet the very language of the prophet bears clear witness to the tender concern of the Lord for His people in all their afflictions. If in one respect the sorrows of Israel are considered as caused by the malice of enemies (and God will take full account of this), yet too, Jeremiah rightly feels these to be from the hand of God in chastening Judah for her sins. This is suited language for those exercised properly before God in brokenness and confession.

Jeremiah, being a priest, knew in reality what it meant to “eat the sin offering” (Lev. 6:25-26) – to feel in his own soul the sin of God’s people as though it were his own, and to confess it as such. The book has an important bearing for saints of God today, especially as showing what is our proper attitude in view of the sorrow and confusion of the public testimony of the Church of God on earth.

The ministry of this book should find a real place in our souls’ experience. These things should not in the least discourage us or make us depressed, but they should develop in us a more serious, humble attitude, which involves a willingness to face the truth honestly.

By Leslie M. Grant

This column is taken from the book: “The Bible, Its 66 Books In Brief.”
It is available for purchase from Believers Bookshelf USA.