The Prophet Places His Hope in a Compassionate God
May 5, 2021
Commentary
God’s people needed to develop the proper attitude toward their afflictions. Jeremiah gave them seven principles to go by:
Affliction should be endured with hope of God’s salvation (vv. 25-30).Affliction is only temporary and is tempered by God’s compassion and love (vv. 31-32).God does not delight in affliction (v. 33).If affliction comes by injustice, God sees it and does not approve of it (vv. 34-36).Affliction is always in relationship to God’s sovereignty (vv. 37-38).Affliction came ultimately because of Judah’s sins (v. 39).Affliction should turn God’s people back to Him (v. 40).Afflictions serve a divine purpose (vv. 31-32). But God is too compassionate to allow them to endure forever. Judah’s afflictions were not cruel acts of a God who delighted in inflicting pain on helpless people. Instead the afflictions came from a compassionate and loving God who was being faithful to His covenant.
He did not enjoy making others suffer but allowed the afflictions as a temporary means to force Judah back to Himself. Knowing that transgressions merit chastening and that God is fair in all His dealings, why would the afflicted soul rebel against the Lord (v. 39)? Jeremiah ends this section by exhorting the people to examine their ways and return to the Lord.
Application
I disciplined my children to bring right behavior. God disciplines me to bring right living. I must not complain about discipline but learn from it, trusting God and being willing to change. I must allow His correction to bring about the kind of behavior in my life that will please Him.
Lamentations 3:25– 40 (NET)
25 The Lord is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him.
26 It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. י (Yod)
28 Let a person sit alone in silence, when the Lord is disciplining him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust; perhaps there is hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who hits him; let him have his fill of insults. כ (Kaf)
31 For the Lord will not reject us forever.
32 Though he causes us grief, he then has compassion on us according to the abundance of his loyal kindness.
33 For he is not predisposed to afflict or to grieve people. ל (Lamed)
34 To crush underfoot all the earth’s prisoners,
35 to deprive a person of his rights in the presence of the Most High,
36 to defraud a person in a lawsuit— the Lord does not approve of such things! מ (Mem)
37 Whose command was ever fulfilled unless the Lord decreed it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes— both calamity and blessing?
39 Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins? נ (Nun)
40 Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord.
Illustration: Siamese Twins Refuse Separation
Siamese twins Margaret and Mary Gibb were not only accustomed to their affliction. They came to prefer it. As adults they refused even to discuss the possibility of separation. To them, such a move would have seemed no less than amputation of a major limb. In recent weeks their condition haunted their physician, Dr. John Appel, because though Mary seemed entirely healthy, Margaret was suffering from rapidly spreading cancer. But the sisters did not change their view, and last week when Margaret’s cancer had spread to her lungs and heart, it had also spread to Mary. They died, at 54, within two minutes of each other.” (Encyclopedia of Illustrations #5880).