Lamentations 3:1-57

I am the man acquainted with misery by the rod of his anger. He has shepherded me into dark places with no light. He laid a heavy hand on me, every day, over and over. He has made my skin and my flesh waste away; he has broken my bones. He has besieged and encircled me with a wall of hardship and bitterness. He has made me sit in darkness like those long dead. He has walled me in with no way out and weighed me down with heavy chains. Even when I cry for help, he closes his ear to my prayer. He has made my paths a maze and obstructed my ways. He has become to me like a bear ready to pounce or a lion lying in wait. He dragged me away, tore me to pieces, and then left me stunned and helpless. He has drawn back his bowstring and used me as a target for his arrows. He shot his arrows deep into my heart, sons from his quiver. Everyone has made me an object of ridicule; they mock me all day long with their songs. He has given me my fill of bitterness and made me drunk with wormwood. He has ground my teeth with gravel and crushed me down to the dust. You have snatched peace from my soul; I have entirely forgotten your goodness. I thought to myself, “My endurance has evaporated; YAHWEH has stamped out my hope for the future.” I remember wandering around in misery, drinking the poison of bitterness. Whenever I ponder this, my soul fades away within me. Yet there is one ray of hope when I remember this: YAHWEH’s tender mercies have no end, and the kindness of his endless love is never exhausted. New, fresh mercies greet me with every sunrise. So wonderfully great is your faithfulness! I tell my soul, “YAHWEH is my abundant portion. I need nothing more. So, I will put all my hope in him.” YAHWEH YAHWEH is always good to all who trust in him, to the soul who searches for him. It is always good to hope, quietly waiting for YAHWEH’s deliverance. It is always good to learn patience and humility from a young age. If your burden is heavy and hard to bear, endure it quietly. Bow low in humble submission, for there may still be hope. Offer a cheek to the one who would strike you, and learn to endure insults. For the Lord will not reject you forever. If he causes grief, he will show compassion from the cascading overflow of his endless love. The Lord takes no delight in afflicting anyone with suffering. To trample underfoot all the earth’s prisoners, to violate human rights in the presence of the Most High, to cheat someone of justice— these things the Lord does not approve. Who can make anything happen unless the Lord is willing? Is it not from the decree of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? Why, then, should anyone complain over the punishment of their sins? Let us examine our path, ponder our ways, and return to YAHWEH’s heart. Let us pray, offering up our hearts in our hands to our God above. “We have sinned and rebelled, and you have not yet pardoned us. “You have blanketed us with your anger and then pursued us, slaughtering without pity. You shrouded yourself in a cloud too thick for prayer to pierce. You have reduced us to rubbish; we are the lowest scum among the nations. “Our enemies are a choir of scoffers and scolders. Panic and pitfall have been our portion; calamity and collapse have come upon us.” My eyes stream with torrents of tears as I weep over the ruin of my beloved people. My eyes will weep without stopping, with no relief in sight until YAHWEH looks down from heaven and sees how much we suffer. My heart is so grieved over Jerusalem, the daughter of my people. My enemies, who hate me for no reason, have trapped me like a bird. They buried me alive in a pit and covered it with stones. Water rose over my head; I thought, “I’m going to die!” YAHWEH I called on your name, YAHWEH, from the bottom of the pit. You have heard me cry out to you: “Do not close your ears to my sighs and to my cries.” You drew near when I called to you. You told me, “Do not be afraid!”