In Trouble And In Joy #1 | An Old Testament Study in Sorrow | Introducing Lamentations

In Trouble And In Joy #1 |An Old Testament Study in Sorrow | Introducing Lamentations
1. Introduction: Through all the changing scenes of life.
The Christian gospel, if it really is the truth of God, must ‘work’ in every situation of life – in trouble and in joy. The apostle Paul clearly believed this. (Phil. 4:11-13) In this series we want to consider the Christian living with and for God in both extremes, when things are going well, and when they are ‘doing it tough’. We will start by considering the ‘hard stuff’, and by way of example, we will focus on the Old Testament book of Lamentations.

2. The nature of our lives in a ‘fallen’ world
This is unmistakably clear in the pages of both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Again the apostle Paul makes this crystal clear in his writings (Rom. 3:19, 20, 23; Rom. 7:18-24; Rom. 8:18-23) and in his personal life (2 Cor. 11:23-28).

3. The background, nature and usefulness of Lamentations.
Lamentations is a fascinating book of Scripture, made up of five acrostic poems, each an expression of profound grief and deep sadness over the fall of Jerusalem, complementing the narrative accounts of the Babylonian siege and subsequent destruction of Jerusalem and its temple and the exile of thousands of its inhabitants recorded in 2 Kings 25:1-21 and Jeremiah 52:1-34, with this emotional, raw account by “the man who has seen affection” (3:1).
Ray Stedman calls it “a study in sorrow, a hymn of heartbreak.” Peter Lee says of it, “No other book within the biblical canon is as dark and depressing as this one.” Mark Vroegop remarks that “Lament is an uncomfortable yet helpful teacher… It is a book of shock and awe).”

4. The nature of the first two chapters of Lamentations.
“Is there any sorrow like my sorrow?” (Lam. 1:12) The first two chapters “lead with this shocking sorrow.” (Mark Vroegop) The first chapter begins “how lonely sits the city that was full of people…” and it just continues with non-stop, unrelenting sorrow. This first chapter contains thirty plus pictures and descriptions of their desperate situation. This was part of the ministry of Jeremiah – to be a witness against his own people, and to grieve, sorrow and lament over the state of the nation).