Week 34: Broken
Weekly Reading:
Jeremiah 37 - Lamentations 5
Opening Prayer
Father God,
You are my strength, my deliverer. I know that with You on my side I can do anything in Your will; but I often act out on my own strength, my own will. When I do, I become tired, a slave to my own decisions. Father, open my eyes today to your message, let it be the turning point I need to trust in You and Your ways rather than my own.
Amen
Study
Lamentations, by definition, comes from the word lament meeting full of sorrow or regret, to mourn over. The short poetic book written in five chapters following a structure whereby chapters 1,2,4, and 5 contain a number of verses that are equal to the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, while chapter 3 differs from the structure with three times the number of alphabetical letters in verse form.
The book was thought to be originated by Jeremiah after the siege and fall of Jerusalem. The book speaks to the:
Sorrow of Jerusalem
Loss of the great city
Oppression of the people
Shame of the city (Israelites)
Pity for the loss
Acceptance of the punishment
Understanding God’s anger and wrath
Currently, we find Jerusalem is no longer under God‘s protection. The people have returned to their hope in the Lord; however, they are broken, shackled, and degraded in their current position as exiles in Babylon. The Israelites know that God‘s faithfulness endures, and despite being punished they know that God is just. They know that God is working amongst them.
The Israelites, after they are in captivity, realize their errors, and they remember the good times. They pray for restoration, accepting their fate. They know that they are disgraced.
We see a broken nation, one that remembers the good times when they were in God‘s favor. They were living well, and things were going their way, but the temptation to sin was too great and now they are broken.
Broken in their sin
Wallowing in their loneliness
Once blessed in their future and favor and now crippled under oppression
Shattered by the realization that they brought this on themselves
But in the brokenness, hope breaks through. While we are in our sorrow, we see light in God’s promises.
The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” Lamentations 3:22–24 NLT
New every morning, from our brokenness, God‘s mercy renews in the promise of a new day. God is compassionate to our brokenness, whatever it may be, whatever consumes us he will provide protection. When everything is stripped away, at the base of everything, we still have God
Closing Prayer
Father God,
I recognize true brokenness in the Israelites as I have been there too. I have come to You a complete shell of who I was, feeling shame and sorrow. Father, I know that I am to blame for this brokenness. Whether it is due to my not trusting in You or working outside of Your design. Father, heal my brokenness today and give me strength to trust only in You.
Amen
Homework
Name a time that you have felt utterly broken. Did you turn to God or elsewhere?
How can you turn it over to God if you have not already?
