Seven Days in Lamentations::Chapter One Discussion

Seven Days in Lamentations::Chapter One Discussion 03/09/2010

“How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was a princess among the provinces has become a vassal” (Lamentations 1:1, NRSV).

A vassal. The word just invites you to read further, but let’s linger a moment to grasp the reality of this prophetic scene God has painted through the author many scholars believe to be Jeremiah. Amid the definition of the Hebrew translated to vassal, one aspect leaped off the screen and straight through my heart. Levy. From princess to levy. That’s bound to be profound if we just look close enough. Yes, I really think like that, it’s a tad weird, but it’s rooted in a hope that does not disappoint. We’re dealing with an infallible God and His word selection is just as incapable of falling short of Divine. Time for a bit of definition. No matter how familiar a term, digging is sure to unearth some Scriptural treasure! That’s Biblical booty, for you pirate types.

By definition, a levy is an imposing or collecting, as of a tax, by authority or force.

God is collecting the debt of our sins by force due to our inability to redeem ourselves. He’s out to repo the souls lent us the moment He first breathed life into man. For your good and mine, by force but not against our will. We’ve got to accept salvation, but it is the sheer grace and force of God that brings it to fruition. The southern church girl in me just needs to interject a hallelujah here! Can I get an amen?

SonShines, I am finding this book absolutely fascinating. Being a poet at heart, all books of a poetic nature just shake my soul. When you add the power of prophecy to the writing, you know you’re in for a real and True treat--and Jesus is buying! Debt paid in full. Let’s keep sight of that gift as we tap into our own lamentations. We can’t ignore our pain or our sin, but we can give every bit of it over to the Lord and He doesn’t mind our lamenting. Am I the only one relieved by not having to pretend things are fine when I’m talking to my Father?

God wants the real us, the true to the soul us, and that includes are unique voices. The Harper Study Bible’s introduction to the book tells of how “all chapters except 3 have twenty-two verses; chapter 3 has sixty-six” and “part of the book follows an alphabetic acrostic.” The Author’s Word, the writer’s voice. I just love it!

Enough from me, let’s talk about this first chapter! Here are a few questions and thoughts to ponder, but don’t feel limited by them. Share your heart! See you in the comments!

What verse did you most identify with?
Did any specific image or word strike you in your reading?
How did you approach this chapter? {study, devotionals, straight read, memorizing...}
Have you ever felt passed by in your pain?
Are you more likely to lament when you see yourself as the cause of your suffering?

Tomorrow we'll be discussing chapter 2 of Lamentations.
I hope you'll join us on the pages of Scripture as well as in conversation!

Comments

Victoria

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 9:25:05 am

I've got to tell you, much of this chapter read like a passage from a book I've long since stopped writing. After my husband's sexual addiction was exposed, I must have written a hundred poems of lament. When I read these words, I couldn't do much but cry, "She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies." That second verse was hard to keep from reading again and again. I could have just stopped there and felt known forever. I can't put into words what life comes from seeing my suffering on the pages of Scripture. Of course, this isn't a passage directly about me, but it sure reminds me of the fact that every God-breathed Word is with me in mind. Every Word God breathed was with you in mind.

Victoria

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 9:45:41 am

You know what? I'm going to elaborate on that last comment. I hope you won't tire of hearing from me this morning! I like to talk about Jesus, what can I say?

Four years ago, I learned that my husband had been cheating on me for as long as we'd been together. Nearly a decade of deceit that spread to the closest friendships I had and beyond. All my friends had dealt treacherously with me. I had no one to comfort me. As I read that second verse, I was transported to one night in the throws of that sorrow. I was lying in my bed, tears on my cheeks, alone. Just alone. I couldn't fight at night. I just had to live in the pain. This night, as I lay there in the fetal position just bawling my heart out, I felt the arms of Christ stretch out and wrap around me. I think I've never cried that hard or that fully. He emptied me out and filled my cup and covered me.

He's waiting around to be gracious to us! I just had to share that in case someone needed to hear it. God is so good!

Joye

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:59:04 am

These words become all the more powerful when they meet our own lament. Satan is defeated by the power of the blood and the word of our testimony!! Your testimony is POWERFUL!

Victoria

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:08:57 am

You're so right, Joye! Satan is defeated! The "bring on the day you have announced and let them be as I am" in verse 21 of the NRSV speaks so much to that! God is crushing Satan and all the pain caused by his slithering. Such an encouragement! Thank you for encouraging me personally, too!

Ginger

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:44:13 am

Okay, your message was powerful enough in itself, then on to your
comment which opens His word even more.

I am not sure of your future, but I see Him working through your
lament, even now. How great it is to get to know you in such a
personal place where His word pens your book, your blog, and whatever
is to come.

Now on to your questions. You're really causing me to think here, as
I have not applied this passage before.

To be honest it touched me more from a distance, in seeing Christ and
His lament, and the writer's--barely touching my own. Surely this is
the part He's trying to get out of me, ever still today.

I am literally trying to approach His word like a book, as you
mentioned, in a more direct fashion while moving forward. Through my
iPhone to be exact.

And, even within my personal studies I have started over in doing the
same. Hard as it may seem, not following a direct coarse of study,
this is where He has me--where I learn to heed His voice from a new
place.

Oh, how I have felt passed by and have lamented in the path of my own
sin. My hope is to produce change--to produce fruit worthy of His
table as you have here.

With that, I rest and receive with you... one chapter at a time.

Praise Him for kingdom connections,
Ginger

Perhaps through this reading and your writing that is His divine
purpose in me today, and throughout our study together.

Victoria

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:21:29 pm

God's Word falls on our weary spirits in a beautiful array of hope. Insights found in one passage might be perfect for that season but mean something anew when the timing is right. The facts never change, just like our amazing God, but the implications and applications never stop shifting to fit our need! Amazing.

I love a deep soaking, but I am passionate about letting people in on the fact that studying is possible in all kinds of ways! Actually, it's the one book we can study and know that God will be the one bringing wisdom to the table, all we have to do is sit and listen and see how much He loves us.

Love it.

Deborah

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 3:35:17 pm

I honestly don't remember ever reading this book before, yet I know I have because I've read through the Bible several times. I guess it just didn't speak to me then. Today it does.

Victoria....thank you so much for being so honest and allowing God to use your pain for others.

* What verse did you most identify with? The Lord is just.....I really liked that in the midst of all the pain and confession of sin, they still saw the Lord and He had not changed.
* Did any specific image or word strike you in your reading? I wrote about this on my blog post.
* How did you approach this chapter? {study, devotionals, straight read, memorizing...} straight reading through with study notes in my Bible
* Have you ever felt passed by in your pain? I've often felt that no one realized that I was even in pain. I hide it well.
* Are you more likely to lament when you see yourself as the cause of your suffering? I feel guilty and not worthy of God's forgiveness and blame all my family's failures on me personally.

Thank you, Victoria for doing this study.

Victoria

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 4:50:12 pm

The Lord is just. If my own pain and healing has proven anything, it's just that. I try to take comfort in the fact that God's handling those who hurt me in a way that has me rejoicing in the healing I pray they experience. Don't you just know the enemy delights in us delighting in the idea of our attackers meeting justice through God's wrath? Slippery slope: handle with prayer! Am I preaching to anybody but me, here?

Comments

Leave a Reply

a few of my posts

Categorized Chaos