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Lamentations Urges Hope In August 5 Bible Study Guide 10 LAMENTATIONS URGES HOPE IN GOD Bible Background • 2 KINGS 25:1-2, 5-7; LAMENTATIONS 3:25-33, 55-58 Printed Text • LAMENTATIONS 3:25-33, 55-58 Devotional Reading • PSALM 23 LESSON OVERVIEW LESSON AIM KEEP IN MIND FOCAL VERSES IN FOCUS THE PEOPLE, PLACES, AND TIMES BACKGROUND AT-A-GLANCE IN DEPTH SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES DISCUSS THE MEANING LESSON IN OUR SOCIETY MAKE IT HAPPEN FOLLOW THE SPIRIT REMEMBER YOUR THOUGHTS MORE LIGHT ON THE TEXT DAILY BIBLE READINGS LESSON AIM By the end of the lesson, we will: UNDERSTAND some reasons for maintaining hope in God; FEEL God’s compassion even when we are suffering; and CONTINUE waiting on the Lord in the midst of our struggles. KEEP IN MIND “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD” (Lamentations 3:26). FOCAL VERSES Lamentations 3:25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. 26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. 27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. 28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. 29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope. 30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach. 31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever: 32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. 33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. 3:55 I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon. 56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. 57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not. 58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life. IN FOCUS Dexter knew that this was the end. He gazed as if hypnotized at the machines recording his mother’s last struggle with life. She had such high hopes for me, Dexter thought. A few months ago he had been on top of the world, a young African American in good health with a rewarding career. The main supporter of his success was his mother. Most often, Dexter and his mother were in a battle about conversion: He believed in self-empowerment, and she put all her faith in God. Her favorite phrase was: “I’m just going to leave it in the hands of the Lord.” “Mom,” he would say, “the Lord gave you a brain, two arms and two legs, and everything else you need to make things happen, not to sit around waiting for divine intervention.” His mother would smile and say, “Dexter, my greatest hope is that one day you will understand the power of prayer.” A month after being named vice president of his company, Dexter relocated his mother from the South to New York City so she could live near him. Finally he could take care of the person who had dedicated her entire life to him. He vowed to remove her financial worries and replace them with hope for the future. Several weeks after the move, without warning, Dexter’s mom was diagnosed with cancer. Radiation treatments, sickness, and vomiting soon followed, but still his mother remained steadfast in her faith. As a matter of fact, to Dexter’s amazement, the events of the past several weeks seemed to have made her faith stronger. Now, as Dexter leaned over his mother’s hospital bed, he softly whispered prayers into her ear—prayers that she had taught him as a child. He whispered his acceptance of Christ. He prayed that he would see his mother in heaven. Moments before the machine beeped a flat line, he was certain that he heard his mother say, “That’s all I have ever hoped for.” Lamentations is also called “the book of tears” because the prophet Jeremiah cries out to God from the depths of despair. But we see that God answers those who hope in Him. THE PEOPLE, PLACES, AND TIMES Jeremiah. God told Jeremiah, “Before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:4, NIV). Jeremiah began his prophetic ministry in 626 B.C., as he stood at the threshold of manhood—when he was 13 years old. Thus, God called him to be God’s mouthpiece, His spokesman to the world. God called him to lay aside his natural sensitivity and low self-esteem, and with the sword of God’s words, “root out . throw down, build and plant.” Jeremiah had lived through the reign of godly King Josiah and had witnessed Israel’s return to idolatry after Josiah’s death. Tirelessly he had warned the people of the coming destruction, but his warning had gone unheeded. He grieved over Jerusalem’s hopeless attachment to idols. He saw Jerusalem partly destroyed in 606 B.C. by Nebuchadnezzar, further devastated in 597 B.C., and finally burned and made desolate in 586 B.C. He watched as the people of Israel were taken into exile. Jeremiah was chosen to provide God’s last warning to the Holy City before its destruction. BACKGROUND Lamentations consists of passionate expressions of grief composed by the prophet Jeremiah during the exile. He expresses his sorrow over Jerusalem, the city he had done his best to save, and the horror of being torn from the Jewish homeland and taken away to Babylon. The book of Lamentations must have been written after the death of King Josiah and between the burning of Jerusalem and the departure of the remnant to Egypt (Jeremiah 39:2; 41:1, 18; 43:7). However, Jeremiah’s sorrow was not without a mixture of faith. He believed that beauty would come from the ashes of the city. He had hope that the city would rise again from its ruins. In fact, Jerusalem did rise again and will give its name to the capital of a world of eternal glory (Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 21:2). AT-A-GLANCE 1. God Is Trustworthy and Good (Lamentations 3:25-26) 2. God Uses Hardships for Our Good (vv. 27-30) 3. God Allows Hardships for a Season (vv. 31-33) 4. God Hears the Prayers of His People (3:55-58) “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD” (Lamentations 3:26). IN DEPTH 1. God Is Trustworthy and Good (Lamentations 3:25-26) Verses 25-27 all begin with the Hebrew word for “good,” communicating to us the fundamental idea that Yahweh is good to all. All of His creatures taste of His goodness, but He is especially good to those who silently (i.e., without complaining) and patiently wait for Him and seek Him, resting in His will. Sometimes trouble can seem to last a long time, and we wonder whether we will ever see God’s deliverance. These times provide an opportunity for us to learn to wait patiently by faith in confident expectation and to seek God prayerfully. He will be gracious to those who patiently wait on and seek Him. To such people, He will show His wonderful loving-kindness. Hope is fundamental to faith. A person without hope cannot believe. If there is no expectation, there can be no confidence. In the Old Testament, hope is expressed by numerous words meaning “safety, security, and trust” (Psalm 16:9; 22:9). Another Hebrew word translated “refuge” or “trust” (Psalm 71:5) denotes a sense of firm and certain expectation. The word is also used in the sense of “refuge” or “shelter” (Jeremiah 17:7, 17; Joel 3:16). In another context, this word denotes something waited for (Ezra 10:2). Zechariah 9:12 refers to “prisoners of hope.” In the New Testament, hope relates to the expectation of good. The original term expressed a joyful and contented expectation of eternal salvation (Acts 23:6; 26:7; Romans 5:4-8; 1 Corinthians 13:13). Because God has provided salvation through Christ, and because He is the believer’s source of expectation, He is called the “God of hope” (Romans 15:13). The source of hope is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (1 Peter 1:3). “Christ in you” is the “hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). In the New Testament, hope has to do with the coming of the Lord (Titus 2:13), the “blessed hope.” As Christians, we can rejoice! We have much in which we can hope! 2. God Uses Hardships for Our Good (vv. 27-30) Many of the young men in Israel had been carried away into captivity in Babylon. Jeremiah encouraged them to bear their yoke patiently and make the best of their situation, allowing God to do His work in their lives. Certainly, it is good to develop good habits and to learn restraint while one is still young so that one can become a vessel to be used in advancing God’s kingdom. Of course, discipline is always a part of early training! It would be wonderful if we, as adults, eventually no longer experienced hardships or needed discipline, but we always seem to have an area in which we still need to grow.
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