Category Archives: Lamentations

Dear MUC family Over the next few days I will be walking you through the book of Lamentations. I trust it will help you respond biblically to the Corona Virus Pandemic. Whereas Job deals with the problem of personal suffering, Lamentations deals with the problem of national disasters like famine, warfare and global pandemics. InContinue reading “Lamentations | 1 | Jerusalem in her desolation”

The book of Lamentations helps God’s people make sense out of national disasters. For example Lamentations is where the Jews turned for help and comfort when their temple was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70. It is also where the American-Jewish composer Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) turned for the text of the last movement ofContinue reading “Lamentations | 2 |”

Yesterday we started to look at Lamentations 3 and were comforted by vrs 24. We all know that it was the inspiration behind the hymn “Great is Thy faithfulness.” The hymn writer Thomas Chisholm was born in 1866. He suffered from ill-health for most of his adult life and due to extended periods where heContinue reading “Lamentations | 3 |”

READ LAMENTATIONS 4 Lamentations 4 does not make for pleasant reading. The dark clouds of desperation that filled Jerusalem in the days following it destruction impacted social values. In vrs 3 we read how people became cruel neglecting even the compassion that animals gave their offspring. Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young,Continue reading “Lamentations | 4 | Unearthing idols”

Fairy tales often end with those words “and they lived happily ever after.” There are no “and they live happily ever after” moments in Lamentations. The book ends without resolution and with questions lingering. The people’s suffering remains. Life remains a daily struggle. The temple still lies in ruins. However the book ends with aContinue reading “Lamentations | 5 | A roadmap to grace”