Day 26

This passage in Lamentations was written as Jeremiah walked through the ruins of Jerusalem. He had spent his life in the unpopular role of warning the Israelites of their pending defeat and destruction as God’s prophet. His entire ministry had been devoted to warning of judgement unless the people turned back to God; yet here he was in the aftermath – the consequences, of God’s people failing to heed his warnings from God. Of the four terms Jeremiah uses to describe the depths of his sorrow, the one most commonly misunderstood of these, is the one that perhaps implies the greatest emotional distress: affliction…homelessness…wormwood, and poison. To Jeremiah, the concept of having spent his entire life working toward the God delivered mission of calling His people to repentance, only for them to reject this message, was more than distressing. For him to then experience firsthand the aftermath of the Babylonian devastation to the city of Jerusalem, had to feel like a mockery of his life. The word wormwood is used seven times in the Old Testament. It implies bitterness. But this was a bitterness that ran to the innermost parts of his body – to his soul. Wormwood is a plant so intensely bitter, that it kills intestinal worms when ingested. Its bitterness survives all the way through the digestive process. It runs its course all the way through the human body. Such was the bitterness of Jeremiah’s consideration of what had passed.
What have we done in our lives that we hoped for, or for which we expected a different result than what we received? When have we been disappointed in the outcome of something that we trusted God to fix, or heal? When have we placed all our hope in a desired outcome, only for that hope to be let down? How bitter is it to hope for something so earnestly that we invest our lives into it; and then consider it a failure. Other translations of this verse (Lam 3:19) render “poison” as “gall.” This seems to fit more accurately with wormwood. Gall is the contents of the gall bladder; bile – and in both its literal and metaphorical meanings it is synonymous with effrontery, audacity, resentment, malice, spite, vitriol and… poison. How accurately does this describe our feelings after having been let down?
But Jeremiah did not write the Book of Lamentations so he could simply “lament” how badly he felt at God’s doomed mission for his life. Too often, we will find a point of despair in our lives, and dwell there. We will remain stagnant in the bitterness and gall of our defeats. We will allow the memories of how we have not achieved what we expected, and then compound our defeat by continuing to walk among the ruins of our failure. But in this setting, while Jeremiah could have done the same thing, he instead recognized his only hope – the truth of the goodness of God.
“Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!” Lamentations 3:21-23
“For the Lord will not reject us forever. Even if He causes suffering, He will show compassion according to His abundant, faithful love.” Lamentations 3:31-32
As we struggle for explanations about why God allowed, or did not allow something we feared/desired to come to pass, where are we dwelling? Are we able to acknowledge God’s great goodness, or are we content to dwell on the bitterness of things turning out differently than we hoped? Our deliverance from despair comes when, like Jeremiah, we rest in the hope of God’s love and goodness. This isn’t a mantra induced walking coma of obliviousness. This is the reality of who God is:
Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations,
Psalms 119:90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You have established the earth, and it stands fast.
Romans 3:3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Lamentations 3:22-23 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.