a.
He at first wanted to distance himself from the harshness of what he had to ultimately conclude. Though God brought judgment, it was judgment out of love rather than pure wrath.
b.
Though Jeremiah hid himself under a veil or covering of denial, he had to conclude that both judgment and hope are in the control of God. He understood that the judgment was of short duration but the hope of long duration; therefore he individually and the nation collectively could look to the God of judgment also as the God of hope.
B.
Lamentations Or Tears of Grief.
1.
Lamentations begins with one concise, to the point statement that seems to tell it all.
a.
It captures, confines and holds our attention and draws us in as though we have been locked up and are not able to escape the Book even from the first verse in the Book to the last verse of it.
b.
This short statement of disaster is a profound opening for the Book because it begins a process of grieving over the lost city and the lost temple.
2.
Quickly look at this beginning in Lamentations 1:1-2 KJV
How does the city sit solitary, 1
or
How lonely sits the city
That was full of people! 1
or
That was once full of people!
How has she become as a widow! 1 or
She has become like a widow
She that was great among the nations, 1 or Who was once great among the nations
And princess among the provinces, 1 or
She who was a princess
among the provinces
How is she become tributary! 1
or
Has become a forced laborer!
She weepeth sore in the night, 2
And her tears are on her cheeks: 2
Among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: 2