EXPAND TO READ: LAMENTATIONS 1 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 20): I have been extremely rebellious throughout my faith journey, Father. Ever since coming to faith I have chosen to essentially continue living in my own ways instead of truly following Your will for my life. Please forgive me for this rebellious nature, Father. My heart does hurt at times as implied in this verse, but typically it’s because of others. What I mean by this is as I get closer to You, those close to me tend to lag behind and that hurts my heart deeply.
PROMISE (verse 22): In this verse, You make us a promise that the wickedness of others will be dealt with according through Your just nature, just as You discipline us for our transgressions. Thank You for this, Father, as Your promises for discipline are necessary to our own well-being. Without righteous discipline, we would all falter more so than we already are. Just like a teenager who grew up without any rules, we would likely be identical to that level of immaturity in our faith walk with You, if not even worse.
ATTITUDE (verse 18): Help my default attitudes align more with how You want me to live, Father. I often live and dwell in my own Spiritual rebellion, trying to align myself with my selfish desires or the world’s way of living and this is not what You expect of Your followers in this life. Help me to be better at my defaults, Father, so they no longer are worldly attitudes and slowly but surely begin to align with Your Spiritual Attitudes.
COMMAND (verse 5): In this verse, You tell us that we will suffer for our many transgressions. Although You are speaking about Jerusalem here, I also feel this is speaking over all of Your followers specifically. You make sure we are aware that although our sins are forgiven for saving our eternal lives in heaven, we must still be judged for those transgressions during this lifetime. Help me to be better, Father, so that my judgement call when it is my time to join You in Heaven is not one of recent events, but only of my past.
EXAMPLE (verse 14): The example You give us in this single verse paints such an amazing picture for me. Our transgressions are formed into a yoke and then placed on our neck; our strength is broken by You throughout all of this. I see this as a great example because it precludes when Jesus tells us that His yoke is light. If we give our heavy and strength-shattering yoke to Jesus and we accept His “light” yoke for ourselves, then our strength returns because of Him. Thank You so much for this initial burden, Father, so that as we progress in our relationship with You, our yoke becomes less and less for us to bear.
*DAILY NOTE: Today’s Scripture in Lamentations I believe is the first time I’ve ever read a chapter in Lamentations fully. I am looking forward to seeing what else this short book has in store for our quiet time, Father. Thank You for today’s lesson. You painted such vivid pictures in my head of the turmoil Jerusalem had to go through at this point in history due to their massive transgressions against You. The symbolism You used throughout this Scripture really emphasized some points You were making, and I thank and praise You for all of that, Father. Thank You!
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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