Lamentations

Lamentations 2: The Lord keeps His word

Begin in prayer

Before we read how the Lord's anger fell on Jerusalem, please pause with your children and turn to Him. Ask Him to quiet our hearts, to teach us that He keeps His word, and to show us where to bring our grief.

My cry goes to God! Indeed, I cry to God for help, and for him to listen to me.

Psalm 77:1

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Show us that You keep Your word, and teach us to pour out our hearts to You and to see Jesus. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

The second song looks straight at what the Lord has done to Jerusalem in His anger. He has thrown down her strongholds, her king and her palaces, and even His own footstool. The elders sit on the ground in silence with dust on their heads, and the prophets no longer receive any vision from the LORD. The writer weeps for the children who faint from hunger in the streets, and he says Jerusalem's wound is as great as the sea. False prophets never showed the people their sin, and now enemies laugh at the city once called the perfection of beauty. Verse 17 says the LORD has done what He purposed and fulfilled the word He commanded in the days of old. Then comes a call to cry out in the night and to pour out the heart like water before the Lord.

As you read Lamentations 2, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The Lord does what He said, and the grieving may still pour out their hearts to Him.

In this song the writer says again and again that the Lord Himself has done these things (verses 1 to 8). That is hard to read, and the book does not soften it, because it means the fall of Jerusalem was no accident. Verse 17 gives the reason, for the LORD fulfilled the word He commanded in the days of old. His footstool, His altar and His sanctuary were thrown down too (verses 1 and 7). Being near His house did not keep the city safe. The prophets saw false and foolish visions, because they never uncovered the people's sin to bring them back (verse 14). Yet the same song tells the people to cry out in the night and pour out the heart like water before Him (verse 19). Their wound is as great as the sea, and the song asks who can heal it (verse 13). Only the Lord who struck them can heal them (Hosea 6 verse 1), so they are told to bring Him their tears.

How does Lamentations 2 show us that the Lord does what He said, and that the grieving may still pour out their hearts to Him?

The Lord did what He had said He would do.

Verse 17 says He fulfilled the word He commanded in the days of old. His anger was not sudden or wild. It was justice for sin He had named long before, in the warnings of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. No place was a hiding place from His word.

Leaders who hid the people's sin could not save them.

The prophets saw false and foolish visions (verse 14). They did not uncover the people's sin, so the people were never called back. Comfort without the truth about sin is no comfort. Jesus told the plain truth about sin and called everyone to repent (Mark 1 verse 15).

The grieving may pour out their hearts to the Lord.

Verse 19 tells them to cry out in the night and to lift their hands to Him. They are to pour out the heart like water and hold nothing back. Jesus warned that this city would fall again, and He wept as He said it (Luke 19 verses 41 to 44). He also invites the weary and burdened to come to Him (Matthew 11 verse 28).

Memorise

Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord

Lamentations 2:19

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, will I bring my sin and my sorrow to Jesus?

The Lord “has done that which he purposed”, and the city lies broken. Yet the song says, “Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord”. The One who struck is the One who is told to hear.

Sin is no small thing to a holy God, and His word about sin is always kept. It was kept at Calvary too. There Jesus became a curse for His people, and the anger of God against their sin fell on Him (Galatians 3 verse 13). He did not stay in the grave, because He rose. His payment is complete, and it is enough.

So come to Him with your sin and your tears. Turn from your sin and trust Jesus. He tells the weary to come, and He gives forgiveness to all who trust Him.

Parent's note

Tell your children that the Lord keeps His word about sin, and that Jesus bore that punishment for His people. Parents, please explain verses 11, 12 and 20 yourself, since they tell of starving children and of mothers who ate their children. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank the Lord that He keeps His word and hears the prayers of the grieving, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child may pray a short prayer if they want to.

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Matthew 7:11

Lord, thank You that You keep Your word, and that You tell the grieving to pour out their hearts to You. Please help each of us to bring our sin and our sorrow to Jesus. Hear our prayers, and teach us to trust You. Amen.