The Perfection of Beauty: Lamentations 2:15-17

Today, I’d like to go through Lamentations 2:15-17. These verses are so tragic and reveal the complete reversal of God’s favor on His people and His city. But really, before we dig into this, we need to read the other Old Testament passage to which it corresponds, Psalm 48:

Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain.

² Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth,
like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.
³ God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.

⁴ When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together,
⁵ they saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror.
⁶ Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor.
⁷ You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind.

⁸ As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord Almighty,
    in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever.

⁹ Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love.
¹⁰ Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;
    your right hand is filled with righteousness.
¹¹ Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments.

¹² Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers,
¹³ consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation.

¹⁴ For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.

This Psalm has so many beautiful promises for the people of God. God has shown himself to be her fortress. He is the one who protects the city, not the walls, not the people. This is the city of the Great King, the Lord Almighty. All who dwell in her rejoice and are glad because God’s righteousness has influenced them. God’s judgments are just and true and the people rejoice over them—especially how they affect their enemies. You know, the ones in verses 4-7. Because God protects His people, the city of Zion is beautiful and unconquered, a mighty fortress, a city of beauty, and joyful dwelling place.

Except, that all changed. When we stop praising God in good times and bad, we stop seeing His blessings and believing that He is able and sovereign. When we stop believing that God is the best defense against our enemies and take matters into our own hands, our walls will crumble and our gates are overthrown. When we stop meditating on God’s unfailing love, we forget that He is the only good and true King and we begin to believe that we can live without His righteousness. Jerusalem’s descent into darkness didn’t happen all at once. There were some big drops and there were some small climbs, but ultimately the people, the leaders, the priests, and the king, all let go. They got too confident and cocky in what they could do. They didn’t give the glory back to God and believe that their security was due to Him and Him alone, they thought that maybe they had pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, and that maybe part of the victory and glory of the city was due to them and their efforts.

And now the city has fallen as Lamentations 2:15-17 shows:

All who pass your way clap their hands at you;

They scoff and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem:

“Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?”

It’s as though the enemies of Jerusalem are screaming, “Beautiful? Perfect? Hah! Joy of the Earth? Are you joyful now as you sit in the dust of your fallen city? You thought you were so great, so wonderful. Now look at you: ugly, rejected, fallen!”

All your enemies open their mouths wide against you;

They scoff and gnash their teeth and say, “We have swallowed her up.

This is the day we have waited for, we have lived to see it!”

“Hypocrites! We knew it all along! We knew that one day you would fall, and now you have to admit that you are no better than the rest of us! You said we would always flee because you were sooooo great and wonderful. You said we were terrified of your beauty. Who is trembling now? Who is shattered? Who is astounded and terrified by their God now? We rejoice over your rejection, we bask in your defeat!”

The Lord has done what he planned; He has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago.

He has overthrown you without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you,

he has exalted the horn of your foes.

“The best part about all this is that we didn’t even really have to try! Your God betrayed you. He let you fall, He didn’t come to your defense. He made war against you. He gave US the victory. Where is God now? Is He in your ruin of a city? In your fallen citadels? Does He stand by your broken gates? Was it worth it Jerusalem? Was your God worth it?”

I wish I could say that this is all in the past. I wish I could say we have all learned our lesson and know better. I wish I could say that this is not how the world treats us today.

The book of Lamentations calls us all to the floor and reveals our ugliness and our false beliefs. We are on the path to perfection and beauty, we are called to be the joy of the world, but we are not perfect yet. There was only one who was perfect: Jesus Christ. His perfection, and his righteousness covers us and gives us the opportunity to try, and try again. Nothing made by human hands can save.[1] We can’t gloat over anything we have or that we do because we could not have any of it or do anything if Christ had not first died for us. We were dead in our sin. Dead people don’t do anything except slowly decompose and return to the dust they were made from. But we also worship a God who can raise the dead, and whose will to save cannot and will not be altered by created beings.[2]

Psalm 48 isn’t boasting about the city. It is boasting about God who makes the city stand. The kings who joined forces did flee from the city because of how pretty, bright, and shiny it was. They fled because their sin came into contact with the Holy God. God’s holiness will always defeat sin. The city wasn’t overthrown because the people made some mistakes—God knows we will make mistakes—the sinfulness of the city and the sinfulness of everyone living in it was trumped by God’s holiness. The book of Lamentations shows us that we cannot assume “that God will protect his own at all costs. No one can stand on holy ground and assert that nothing will overcome them.”[3]

Today, we are covered by the blood of the lamb, the perfect sacrifice. The one who had no sin became sin for us so that we could bear his righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:12). But that doesn’t mean we can just do as we please. We were not redeemed so we could just try again, we were bought and redeemed into the House of God, and God has some house rules. That is why we say that God is our Father. He teaches us how to live, and live well. He knows that true joy and happiness comes from living well, and the only way to live well is to learn from Him. Here on earth, we are all learning. None of us is perfect. When we succeed and do something well, praise God! When we fail, He gives us the chance to try again, to learn it again.

Jesus died so that we could be the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth. God will not rest until He accomplishes His purposes in us, until He brings us to perfection and glory. This life isn’t about what we do, but what God does through us. He is worthy of praise and glory. Even when we encounter troubling times, trials, and tribulations, He is worth it, and no human should ever convince us differently, regardless of where life takes us. God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end.

Do you depend on your accomplishments, towers, and citadels, or do you depend on God?

How have you let God guide you in the past and how is He guiding you now?

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[1] J Andrew Dearman, Jeremiah/Lamentations, The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2002), pg 453.

[2] Ibid.

[3] J Andrew Dearman, Jeremiah/Lamentations, The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2002), pg 452

Lamentations 2:6-10, Destruction.

I have been working on reading my way through the OT prophets lately. It’s quite a challenge to keep it all in perspective, especially when I can only really get through one or two chapters a day. And, to be honest, it’s a little depressing. The prophets have some wonderful visions of God’s renewed kingdom and reign, and the redemption and salvation of His people. But they also have a lot of pretty pointed messages about the consequences of screwing up and not repenting. Lately I have been in Lamentations, which is particularly heart breaking. Today, I am digging into 2:6-10:

He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
    he has destroyed his place of meeting.
The Lord has made Zion forget
    her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;
in his fierce anger he has spurned
    both king and priest.

⁷ The Lord has rejected his altar
    and abandoned his sanctuary.
He has given the walls of her palaces
    into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
    as on the day of an appointed festival.

⁸ The Lord determined to tear down
    the wall around Daughter Zion.
He stretched out a measuring line
    and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts and walls lament;
    together they wasted away.

⁹ Her gates have sunk into the ground;
    their bars he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations,
    the law is no more,
and her prophets no longer find
    visions from the Lord.

¹⁰ The elders of Daughter Zion
    sit on the ground in silence;
they have sprinkled dust on their heads
    and put on sackcloth.
The young women of Jerusalem
    have bowed their heads to the ground.

I know, I know. A real downer. Happy New Year. That’s Lamentations for you, but there is something so essential here to our faith: we cannot depend on anyone but God. No possession, relationship with another human, people group, or country; or defense mechanism can save us. Only God can save us, and He has through Jesus Christ.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here. The book of Lamentations is a lament over the destruction of the temple and the exile and humiliation of God’s people. Lamentations is a poem that the Judeans in exile recited, sang, prayed, and remembered.[1] There’s a point to remembering our grief and pain. Sometimes being scarred for life means we don’t have to be broken repeatedly to make us remember the consequences of sin.

In 586BC, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, marched on Jerusalem one last time. He sacked the city and destroyed the Temple of God. Here in Lamentations though, the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem is attributed to God, as is it elsewhere in Scripture[2]. In verse 6 alone, God violently ripped apart everything that was supposed to bring the people to Him. His dwelling, the temple, where His presence dwelt in a mighty and tangible way (1 Kings 8:6-13), is laid to waste. God, himself, destroyed His place of meeting where the people gathered to praise and worship. He made His people forget her appointed feasts and her Sabbaths, the very things that were supposed to call their minds back to the power, glory, and faithfulness of God. Those whom were supposed to have direct access to God, the king and priests, were ignored.

Verse 7 and 8 continue with God’s rejection of his altar and that He has abandoned his sanctuary. The walls of the palace and the city are slated for destruction by her enemies. Finally in verse 9, the city gates are destroyed and lie in a heap on the ground, useless. The treasured possession (Exodus 19:5) of God is completely ruined, because now, the law is no more, and her prophets no longer find visions from the Lord. The poet feels that there is no way to communicate with God. The very things that were supposed to bring the people closer to God—that is, the law and the prophets—are useless. The law was given in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy as a way for a redeemed people to know how to live redeemed and holy lives. For the poet, the fact that the law is gone means there is no way for them to get back to that status of being God’s treasured possession, kingdom of priests, and holy nation (Exodus 19:5-6). All is despair and hopelessness. 

And this pretty much sums of Lamentations for you. The people depended on physical things: the written Law, the temple, the city to save them. But in the end they were captured because only God can save. God reject his unholy, unrighteous people, and stripped them of everything He ever gave them, including the ability to know Him. This is not just a pack your bags and get on the road type of parting. The people went into exile with nothing. They were completely at the mercy of the nations whose gods they envied and desired.

But the thing with Lamentations is that you have to read it with the context of the book of Jeremiah in mind.

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” (Jeremiah 29: 10-14)

This is how God answered the hopelessness and despair of Lamentations. He has not forgotten. He will not forget. He has a plan.

 “This is what the Lord says:
“‘I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents
    and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city will be rebuilt on her ruins,
    and the palace will stand in its proper place. (Jeremiah 30:18)

The city that He so violently destroyed, will be rebuilt.[3]

And the law that was destroyed, will be replaced:

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33)

We have the gospels, and we know that Jesus came to be the mediator of the New Covenant and to save us from our sins so we can live in peace with God. The Holy Spirit was sent to indwell our hearts and minds to give us access to the law of God so we could make holy and righteous decisions. We know these things, and yet, sometimes we take a little too much comfort in the physical evidences of our faith: the size of our church, the Bible Studies we do or attend, how many verses we have memorized, how big our Bible is…these were the same things that brought the Judeans in Jerusalem comfort, but God still exposed their faithlessness for what it was: a mask. It is not beneath God to rip these false foundations out from under our feet and leave us lying in the dust. But He is also good, and gracious, and brings us good things too when we truly respond in faithfulness. Because of His great love and faithfulness, He does not utterly reject us when we mess up again and again and again.

God is holy and He desires that we be holy above all else. What does it take to make us holy though? We have to be purged of the false notions and foundations we build our lives and faith upon and be taught that God is the only one good and true and worthy of our full devotion. Being purged is putting to death in us all that is unholy and unworthy of God.  In John 2:29, Jesus summed up Lamentations 2:6-9 and Jeremiah 30:18: “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” Our sin, and the sin of the world—past, present, and future—was put on Jesus, and he died. But in His death, that sin was destroyed forever, and then He was raised to life. When we put to death our own sin, it must die within us and be taken out of us. Often I think it feels like a patch being ripped off a piece of clothing. It hurts, there may be holes exposed and created, frayed seams, and a lot of repair work left over. But who better to heal and repair than the Creator and Great Physician? Turn your life over to God, and let Him purge you of all unrighteousness. It is painful and hard, but so worth it to be made new and cleansed.

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[1] J Andrew Dearman, Jeremiah/Lamentations, The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2002), pg 445.

[2] Deuteronomy 32:30, Psalm 89:40, Ezekiel 5:8-9, 11-12, are just a few.

[3] Interestingly, what we see in Lamentations 2:6-9 and Jeremiah 30:18, that is, the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem and the promise that it will be rebuilt, is summed up by Christ in John 2:19, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days.” Christ’s death and resurrection serve as an exile of sorts for him, except that when he came back to life, he was not still imbued with sin and deceit. He was perfect when he died, and perfect when he lived again. Thus he is the only one who is able to clothe us in perfection so we can stand before the throne of God as pure, holy, and acceptable.

New Year's Resolution: Rest

Last year, our pastor challenged us to do a character resolution. Something in our hearts and minds that needed work. After prayerfully consideration, I chose this as my goal: Choose Trust. You see I had realized that there was so much in life that I held tightly. So much I felt I had to control, and couldn’t let go of. Over the course of the year, I found myself learning to trust and let go. I was able to relax my attitude and allow my husband to do things differently than I did and not worry so much over it. I found I was able to trust God to be God, and could roll with the punches a bit easier. I found I was able to say “no” to somethings and trust that it was OK to not do everything. It was OK to not be the best at everything, and it was OK to celebrate when others were successful where I was not.

This year, my New Year’s Resolution came easy to me. Since November, I feel like we have been running at an unsustainable pace. The Thanksgiving & Christmas Holiday season is always busy for everyone, but this year, it seemed unreasonable. Our Sunday afternoons were filled with us trying to get those last little thing done for the week. I would sit on the couch in the evening and dread going to bed because it meant facing another day filled with things to do and places to go and people to see. Sometimes I would cry and tell Seth that I just couldn’t do it anymore. God designed us to rest. He created us to need a day of rest, to rest in Him, and to have rest from our enemies. The Old Testament Covenants carry the theme of rest in them because God is working at getting us back to Eden: where Adam and Eve worked hard, worshiped well, and rested fully.

So this year, my goal is to be rested. This means resting from my work, and labor.

Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest. Exodus 34:21 (NIV)

God threw in that last part because He knew the temptation would be strong to just work through the Sabbath when things were busy. During planting and harvest season, farmers are beyond busy. There is a window of time in which they need to get the seed in the ground and bring the harvest in or else the fall rains and cold will destroy their hard work, and, in Old Testament Times, their winter supply of food would be gone too. Harvest is a rough season. Last year, after doing some remodeling on my garden, I ended up with an abundance of produce. It brought me great joy to see the Lord provide for us through my little garden. But there was also the hardship of not just bringing in the produce, but doing something with it so it wouldn’t just rot in the pantry. I nearly drove myself crazy making meals to stick in the freezer. Today I am so grateful for the work and effort I put into it because we have an abundance of freezer meals to pick from every week when I need a break from the kitchen. But at the time, I was anxious and cranky because I was working too much and not resting enough. God knows we will be busy, and that is why He insists we rest.

This also means resting our souls, as well as our bodies:

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” Isaiah 30:15 (NIV)

Working myself to the bone and refusing to rest doesn’t hurt God, it hurts me. Going to my Father and resting in His loving arms, gives me strength to face the next day and week. The verse from Isaiah above comes in the middle of a passage of accusation. God is listing out the sins of the people and one of them is that they did not repent, and they did not rest. They refused to trust God’s provision and rest in His strength. This is why God commands us to “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (Exodus 20:8). When we don’t rest and trust God to provide the time, energy, and strength to do what He has given us to be done, we dishonor God by basically stating that He isn’t powerful enough to give us what we need so we can do what we must do.

Sunday mornings are a golden opportunity for us to take the time to worship God and rest. To hear His word, and be with His people. This is where we get centered for the week to come. The key is to make sure that week starts Monday morning, and not Sunday afternoon.

This year my goal is to make resting a habit for my family and me. I wish we would all be refreshed in heart, mind, body, and soul so that we can truly serve those within our family, and those outside of our family. My goal is not to do nothing, but to actively rest from activity so that I can be replenished and strong to live the life God have given me to live.

I will refresh the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish. Jeremiah 31:25 (ESV)

What’s your New Year’s goals or resolutions?

Scripture is Beautiful: Psalm 91:4

My Mom is a calligrapher. She creates beautiful works of art with words and some very fancy pens. When my son, Asher, was born, she presented us with a small note book of prayers she had written for our baby and Scripture she had beautified. Each time I thumb through the note book I am touched by the sincerity of the prayers, but also the beauty of the Scripture brought to life. I wanted to share some of these with you all. I know she will be somewhat embarrassed by this because these are not necessarily her great works of art, but perhaps its better that way. We need to be reminded that Scripture is not a sterile, printed, passionless word to us. It is God's art, poetry, and beauty brought to us in a way which we can understand.

He will cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you will find refuge.

Psalm 91:4

When I was in high school, my sister got a bird, a cockatiel. I hated the little thing. It insisted on climbing up my arm to sit on my shoulders or head, and would routinely poop on me. It also learned to ring like a telephone so loudly that it would wake me up on Saturday mornings even though we were separated by two doors. He was kind of cute and sort of funny. But mostly I just didn't get along great with him. One of the things I remember very distinctly though, is how soft his feathers were. When he would sit on my shoulder, he would often stretch his clipped wings and his feathers would brush against my neck and ear.

This Scripture reminds us that being in God's presence is not necessarily a harrowing experience with brimstone and fire and the books being opened to announce our faults and sins in detail. Its like a child snuggling up with their mom under the softest blanket and being held tight and cuddled. In that place, there is nothing that can harm you. A mother bird covers her chicks to protect them from the elements. And that is what God does for us. He is our heavenly father, but truly, God also functions as our mother - our life giver, our sustainer, the one who holds us close when we feel like we are falling apart. His touch is soft and gentle, His words are kind and reassuring, and beneath his wings, we are eternally safe and cherished.