Lord, See Us in Our Suffering

The Old Testament book of Lamentations records the wailing of two distinct voices: both the prophet Jeremiah and the city of Jerusalem. First, in 1:1-11, we hear the prophet’s cry, “Lord, see your people’s suffering!”

Jerusalem’s loss of greatness (vv. 1-3)

Jeremiah mourns the sudden reversal of his city’s greatness (vv. 1-3). “The city that was full of people” now sits alone like an outcast leper. The bride of God is now “a widow” (see Deuteronomy 24:24:17) who has lost her former glory “among the nations.” The princess “has become a slave” who “weeps bitterly” long into the night. Instead, of a radiant face, her cheeks are stained with tears. Her body shudders from the pain in her soul, for those she thought were friends and lovers “have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies” (Lamentations 1:2b).

Jerusalem had begun to form alliances with the nations around her: Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Tyre (e.g., Jeremiah 2:20-3:2; 4:30; 22:20-22; 27:1-22; 30:14). She had sought for help from man instead of God (25:1-38). Yet now, in her distress, “she has none to comfort her”—a common refrain (see Lamentations 1:7, 9, 16, 17, 21). Her lovers now betray her just as she had betrayed the Lord.

Thus, “Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude” (v. 3a). She “finds no resting place” in God’s promised land (v. 3b). She cannot hide, for her pursuers “have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress” (v. 3c; see Jeremiah 39:1-10; 40:1-6). She is penned in emotionally like the narrowing canyons which now block her escape. Like her king, Zedekiah, fleeing for his life, she is cut down in mid-flight and taken into exile (2 Kings 25:1-7; Jeremiah 52:1-11). Jerusalem’s past glory has become her present humiliation.

Application Insight: Do you ever mourn the reversals of your own former glory? Are you saddened by the losses you’ve sustained or long for the way life used to be? Then, go to the Lord in prayer and pour out your sorrows. He promises that he will see you even in your suffering.

Jerusalem’s loss of worship (vv. 4-6)

After mourning the city’s loss of greatness, Jeremiah then bemoans her loss of worship: “The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the festival; all her gates are desolate; her priests groan; her virgins have been afflicted, and she herself suffers bitterly” (Lamentations 1:4). Religious pilgrims no longer make their way to Jerusalem for sacrifice and prayer. The once-bustling marketplace now stands eerily silent. The city’s religious leaders could not save her and her young maidens no longer dance with joy (see Jeremiah 31:4, 13-14). Zion grieves over her loss of worship as the wicked revel in victory: “Her enemies prosper, because the LORD has afflicted [his chosen people] for the multitude of her transgressions” (Lamentations 1:5). Therefore, Zion bears the brunt of her sinful disobedience: “All her majesty has departed” (v. 6a).  Her princes have fled like famished deer without the strength to stand. Even her children have been taken captive—stolen off to Babylon, for she has broken covenant with the Lord and now reaps the deadly consequences (see Deuteronomy 28:36, 52-68; Jeremiah 5:6). The prophet Jeremiah, however, is not surprised, for he had preached the same message of repentance for forty years (645-605 BC). He had warned this day would come, so he links the city’s tears to the judgment promised by the Lord. Ten times throughout this poem, he declares that God was the one who had delivered this pain (Lamentations 1:5, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20).

Application Insight: Do you ever feel emptiness in worship during times of suffering? Do you find it hard to pray, read your Bible, or fellowship with others? Sometimes God uses suffering to grab our attention—to shake us by the shoulders and bring us back to him. Suffering is not always the result of sin, but it can be. It is one way God rips down our idols or exposes parts of our soul which must be refined.

Jerusalem’s loss of status (vv. 7-11)

Jeremiah grieves over more than Jerusalem’s loss of greatness and loss of worship. He also laments her loss of status: “Jerusalem remembers . . . all the precious things that were hers from days of old” (v. 7a) like the temple and its treasures, great leaders and glorious wealth. Yet now the temple has been ransacked (2 Chronicles 36:19; Jeremiah 28:1-3). Their enemies have burned it to the ground, such that the people no longer worship (52:13). “All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength” (Lamentations 1:11a; Jeremiah 37:21).  Yet “there was none to help her, her foes gloated over her; they mocked at her downfall” (Lamentations 1:7b). Because of her grievous sins against the Lord, Jerusalem had become like a filthy rag which her lovers would use, then toss aside. Pagan armies had invaded God’s holy of holies and despised the city’s shame after rubbing their grubby hands all over God’s sacred space (v. 10; Deuteronomy 23:3-8; Jeremiah 51:51; 52:17-23). Thus, Jeremiah mourns like a father whose daughter has been defiled, paraded in her filth for all to see. Once-proud Jerusalem is now a woman soiled by her worship of false gods.

So, the prophet cries on her behalf, “O LORD, behold my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!” (Lamentations 1:9e). “Look, O LORD, and see, for I am despised” (v. 11c). The unfaithful city had not sought the Lord when her priests led idolatrous rites and her young maidens danced with joy. Nor had they prayed to the Lord when her rulers held positions of power and her admirers remained close by. No, she did not cry out to Yahweh until she was afflicted—lying in the gutter with no one to lift her out. She had to be brought low before she lifted up her eyes.

Application Insight: God often uses pain to get our attention and loving discipline to set his children straight. So, like Jeremiah, you might lament, “Lord, see me in my suffering!” Yet consider how God tries to get your attention by exposing the idols in your life. Have any of your losses revealed your misplaced dependence on false gods? Has God revealed your unfaithfulness to him through loss of peace, loss of health, loss of finances, loss of relationships, loss of time, loss of worship, loss of comfort, or loss of joy. Is there anything you had place in front of God—anyone you had depended on more than God? Sometimes we don’t see our idols until they’re taken away. Our sin then leads to suffering and suffering to lament. Yet hopefully, lament returns us to the rightful worship of our God.