GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LAMENTATIONS 1:9-10
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9 Her uncleanness stains her skirts.
She did not think about the future.
Her fall was astonishing. There was no one to comfort her.
“O LORD, look at my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed.”
10 The enemy has laid hands on all her treasures;
she saw that pagan nations enter her sanctuary–
those you had forbidden to enter your congregation.
Each phrase of verse 9 is worthy of a full meditation, but since we covered the uncleanness of Jerusalem in verse 8, let us consider the second line: “She did not think about the future.” This is the case with each and every sin that mankind commits. The fruit looked so shiny and sweet, Eve just didn’t think about what would happen next. The beautiful woman was bathing on the next rooftop over; David just didn’t think about what would happen next. A man had been raised by fine Christian parents, but he assumed his children would have the same views and faith even if he did none of the things that his own parents had done, like taking his kids to church, talking to them about what they learned in Sunday school, talking about Jesus with them, and teaching them to pray– he just didn’t think about what would happen next, when they went off on their own without being raised in faith. He thought that “do as I say, not as I do” would do the trick. He didn’t realize that the faith of an entire family, generations old, can be lost by the inaction of a single father. “Train a child in the way he should go” is an action, to be fearfully and tearfully undertaken by any and every man who becomes a father. “Bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
“Look at my affliction,” the people of Judah pray, “for the enemy has triumphed.” The first cross, the immediate despair of the Jews in exile, must lead us to consider our place and our own sinfulness. When we read anything in the Scriptures about the exiles, and most especially in Lamentations, we must be brought to examining our own sins. The old prayer, “There but for the grace of God go I,” is not just a phrase from an ancient sermon, but a genuine acknowledgement that our trespasses lead us into veritable minefields of distress and agony. What we do and fail to do has real consequences in this life, and in the life of the world to come.
Verse 10 is a warning about the dangers of sinning in the arena of church fellowship. Before worshiping or working together with other churches and Christians, the Bible commands us to examine their doctrine and teachings. “If you hold to my teaching,” Jesus said, “you are really my disciples” (John 8:31). And Paul warns, “The time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Timothy 4:3). And Paul also commands: “Watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them” (Romans 16:17). In verse 10, pagans who were forbidden from entering into the sanctuary of the temple were invited in by Israel’s wicked and foolish kings. This was a sin in itself, but the reason for God’s warning became clear. Pagan worship infected the people as they dabbled in whatever new religions happened along.
A cross we still bear today is the influence and constant oppression of people who mock our faith and attack it. They assault Genesis by questioning every date, whether real or assumed, to try to pick away at the bedrock of our confidence. Then another attack is made from a different direction. This is on the end flank of our faith, and the book of Revelation. They confuse our good people with dangerous and foolish questions about the chronology of the Last Days and take people’s attention away from the cross and the forgiveness of sins. “You’d better make yourself ready!” they call out, making good Christians doubt whether or not Christ himself has personally made us each ready for judgment day at the cost of his own blood. And then there are still others who attack in the center, in the Gospels, by barking out their philosophy about personal choice and making a decision for Jesus. They are more dangerous than all the rest, because they throw doubt on the cross and on the resurrection. But their breath stinks of the devil’s own reeking breath and words, and whenever they speak, they bring death.
To the Gospels! To the Epistles! To the Prophets and Psalms and the simple comfort of the forgiveness of sins! Let our people be instructed in every book of the Bible, every poem, every paragraph. Let them recognize the simple meaning of every parable and the glory of every miracle. Let them look to Jesus and the cross of our forgiveness.
Remember it yourself, and teach your children and your family. Begin with your dear spouse, and do not stop while the Holy Spirit continues to put breath into your lungs. And be encouraged by each other’s faith. That is true fellowship.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Archives at St Paul’s Lutheran Church https://splnewulm.org/daily-devotions/ and Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2024
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Lamentations 1:9-10