Lamentations - Outline

Wed May 22 16:26:36 PDT 2013

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

NOV 5, 2013

 *LAMENTATIONS: FOR DESTRUCTION AND HUMILIATION OF JERUSALEM*

 *1. 1:12 (1) JEREMIAH: HIS FIRST LAMENTATION. “Is it nothing to you, all
you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which
was brought upon me, which the LORD inflicted on the day of his fierce
anger.” *How fierce Your judgments upon continued sin and rebellion,
Father, God of the FEAR OF JEHOVAH! May we never forget to balance Your
love with Your fear! *Hallowed be your :name!*

 *2. 2:8 (2) JEREMIAH: HIS SECOND LAMENTATION. They cry to their mothers,
“Where is the bread and wine?” as they faint like a wounded man in the
streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers’
bosom.” *When
You destroy our wall, You cease to deliver us from the evil one, Father. He
then comes in against us at will. *Your :kingdom come.*

 *3. 3:1 (3:1-20) JEREMIAH: HIS THIRD LAMENTATION. “I am the man who has
seen affliction under the rod of his wrath.” *The righteous at times suffer
with the wicked. The prophets see the fulfillment of their dread
prophecies, and ourn and shudder. There is a time for jdgment, but thankGod
there is also a time to heal. *Your :will be done, As in heaven, so on
earth.*

 *4. 3:22-23 (3:21-38) JEREMIAH: HIS CONFIDENCE IN JEHOVAH. “The steadfast
love of the LORD is never ceasing, his mercies never come to an end; 23 they
are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” *Thank God for this
note. Following the dark night of the soul comes joy in the morning. O
forgive us Father, for doubting You! Your chastisements are also in love,
to bring us to our senses. Then You can restore us! *Our :daily :bread Give
us this day!*

 *5. 3:40 (3:39-66) JEREMIAH: HIS CONFESSION AND PRAYER. “Let us test and
examine our ways, and return to the LORD!” *Yes, here is the right response
to judgment and chastisement. Father, You but design such extreme times for
our own good. *And forgive us our :debts, As we also hve forgiven our
:debtors.*

 *6. 4:11 (4) JEREMIAH: HIS FOURTH LAMENTATION. “The LORD gave full vent to
his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion that
consumed his foundtion.” *Yes, Your judgments O father have an end. You
desire to perfect holiness in Your fear. The fear of Jehovah is the
beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge and turns us from sin! *And
bring us not into temptation!*

 *7. 5:21 (5) JEREMIAH: HIS FIFTH LAMENTATION. “Restore us to yourself, O
LORD, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old -” *We need to pray
this, Father. We are so weak. Inour flesh dwells *no good thing*. Teach us
to have *no confidence* in the flesh. We would only worship You in the
Spirit and glory in Christ Jesus! *But deliver us from the evil one!*

 *NOTE: 2:9 (2) JEREMIAH: A FURTHER WORD OF HIS PROPHECY. “Her gates have
sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars; her kings and
princes are among the nations; the law is no more, andher prophets find no
vision from the LORD.” *This is the ultimte in judgment and the fierce
anger of JEHOVAH for His Name’s sake. Your holiness Father, has been
violated by Your people who call themselves by Your Name. Write this
judgment upon our hearts! This is the cry of Tisha B’Av! This is the
response of a true *talmid teshuvah (disciple of return).** *

 *C.H. Spurgeon Quote: “No Compulsion” - *“Mark that in the father’s
drawing there is no compulsion whatever; Christ never compelled any man to
come to him against his will. If a man be unwilling to be saved, Christ
does not save him against his will.”

 *Our Psalm for the Day: 126:1-2a (126) RESTORE OUR FORTUNES, O LORD. “When
the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. 2a Then
our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of
joy.” *Father,
You are the One Who sets the captives free! Your restore us from prison and
captivity! You return us to joy! *Hallowed be your :name!*

 This is the seventh step, and we may therefore expect to meet with some
special perfection of joy in it; nor shall we look in vain. We see here not
only that Zion abides but that her joy returns after sorrow. Abiding is not
enough, fruitfulness is added. The pilgrims went from blessing to blessing
in their Psalmody as they proceeded on their holy way. Happy people to whom
every ascent was a song, every halt a hymn. Here the truster becomes a
sower: faith works by love, obtains a present bliss, and secures a harvest
of delight. The Psalm divides itself into a narrative (1-2), a song (3), a
prayer (4), and a promise (5 and 6).

 126:1 *When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them
that dream. *So sudden and so overwhelming was their joy that they felt
like men out of themselves, ecstatic, or in a trance. The captivity had
been great, and great was the deliverance; for the great God Himself had
wrought it: it seemed too good to be actually true. Let us look to the
prison-houses from which we have been set free. Ah, me, what captives we
have been! At our first conversion, what a turning again of captivity we
experienced! Never shall that hour be forgotten. Joy! Joy! Joy! Since then,
from multiplied troubles, from depression of spirit, from miserable
backsliding, from grievous doubt, we have been emancipated, and we are not
able to describe the bliss which followed each emancipation. The people
remembered this joy-flood for years after, and here is the record of it
turned into song.

 126:2. *Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with
singing. *When at last the tongue could move more articulately, it could
not be content simply to talk, but it must needs sing; and sing heartily, too,
for it was full of singing. Doubtless the former pain added to the zest of
the pleasure; the captivity threw a brighter color into the emancipation.
The people remembered this joy-flood for years after, and here is the
record of it turned into a song. Note the *when *and the *then*. God’s *when
* is our *then*. At the moment when He turns our captivity, the heart turns
from its sorrow; when He fills us with grace, we are filled with gratitude.
We were made to be as them that dream, but we both laughed and sang in our
sleep. We are wide awake now, and though we can scarcely realize the
blessing, yet we rejoice in it exceedingly. *Then said they among the
heathen, the Lord has done great things for them. *It is a blessed thing
when saints set sinners talking about the loving-kindness of the Lord: and
it is equally blessed when the saints, who are hidden away in the world,
there of what the Lord has done for His church, and themselves resolve to
come out from their captivity and unite with the Lord’s people.

 126:3. *The Lord has done great things for us; whereof we are glad. *I
heard one say the other day in prayer, “whereof we desire to be be glad.”
Strange dilution and defilement of Scriptural language! Surely if God has
done great things for us we are glad and cannot be otherwise. No doubt such
language is meant to be lowly, but in truth it is as loathsome.

 126:5. *They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. *Our mouth has never
been filled with holy laughter if it had not been first filled with the
bitterness of grief. We must sow: we may have to sow in the wet weather of
sorrow; but we shall reap, and reap in the bright summer season of joy.
When a man’s heart is so stirred that he weeps over the sins of others, he
is elect to usefulness. Winners of souls are first weepers for souls. As
there is no birth without travail, so is there no spiritual harvest without
painful tillage. When our own hearts are broken with grief at man’s
transgression, we shall break other men’s hearts: tears of earnestness
beget tears of repentance: “deep call unto deep.”

 126:6 *He that goes forth and weeps, bearing precious seed, shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing, binging his sheaves with him. He. *The
general assurance is applied to each one in particular. That which is
spoken in the previous verse in the plural - “they” - is here repeated in
the singular - “he.” He leaves his couch to go forth into the frosty air
and tread the heavy soil; and as he goes, he weeps because of past
failures, or because the ground is so sterile, or the weather so
unseasonable, or his corn so scarce, and his enemies so plentiful and so
eager to rob him of his reward. He drops a seed and a a tear, a seed and a
tear, and so goes on his way. In his basket, he has seed which is so
precious to him, for he has little of it, and it is his hope for the next
year. Each grain leaves his hand with anxious prayer that it may not be
lost; he thinks little of himself but much of his seed, and he eagerly
asks, “Will it prosper? Shall I receive a reward for my labor?” Yes, good
husbandman, *doubtless* you will gather sheaves from your sowing. Because
the Lord has written *doubtless*, take heed that you do not doubt. It is
somewhat singular to find this promise of fruitfulness in close contact
with return from captivity; and yet it is so in our own experience, for
when our own soul is revived, the souls of others are blessed by our
labors. If any of us, having been once lonesome and lingering captives,
have now returned home, and have become longing and laboring sowers, my
true Lord, Who has already delivered us, soon transforms us into
glad-hearted reapers, and to Him shall be praise forever and ever. Amen. *(From
“The Treasury of David” by C.H. Spurgeon, abridged by D.O. Fuller)*

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