EXPAND TO READ: LAMENTATIONS 2 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 14b): I am often misled in my faith walk, Father. Misled by my own selfish desires, by the world, and by the enemy. This has led me down many paths in my life that I know are against Your will for me. Please forgive me for giving into these so easily most of the time, Father. Forgive me for willingly straying from Your will for my life often since coming to faith.
PROMISE (verse 17): Not a promise specifically, but the fulfillment of a promise in this verse. Just as You said many times in the book of Jeremiah, which I just finished, You promised them that massive destruction would come to Jerusalem. In this verse, You speak directly to the fulfillment of that promise You made multiple times to Jerusalem. Of course, they didn’t believe You in the moment because they were happy living their extremely sinful lives without any thought to Your will for them or Your promises coming to fruition one day. Thank You for Your faithfulness, Father.
ATTITUDE (verse 14a): Instead of revealing and being healed from my guilt, I often live in it for a long time, placing myself into a prison of my own crafting. Please help me with this, Father. Help me to be better at revealing my guilt to You for healing, but also revealing it to those that I need to reveal it to for their healing, if needed. Help me to have an attitude of admission and release, so that when things do begin to rest on my shoulders, I remember to go to You through it all instead of trying to carry it on my own.
COMMAND (verse 19): This single statement in this verse seems quite powerful to me, even though it is so very simple. The mental picture You’ve painted for me in how You want me to live through this life is a powerful image. You tell us to “pour out your heart like water before the Lord’s presence.” This has been a struggle of mine just in general with anyone my entire life, but since coming to faith also with You. Forgive me for not being better and more willing to truly pour out my heart to You, Father. Forgive me for often trying to just bottle things up and “manage” them on my own. Help me to be better at truly “pouring out” my heart to You.
EXAMPLE (verse 21): Such an amazing testimony to what can happen when You are truly angry with Your people to the point of action. I’m sure Your people, especially me, cause some anger in You on a day-to-day basis through our transgressions, but this Scripture is specifically referring to when You are so “fed-up” with those transgressions that You allow Your wrath and anger to consume them. The very last part of this verse says it all: “slaughtering without compassion.” I do not ever want to be on the side of You that invokes Your wrath and anger without the “restraint” of compassion, but I do understand that sometimes it is a necessary thing to do in order to make a point for the overall betterment of Your people in the long-term.
*DAILY NOTE: You paint such a vivid picture in this Scripture of how destructive Your anger can be when You allow it. Near the end, You called it the “day of the Lord’s anger” which essentially shows me that You do not release it often, but when You do it’s a powerful action that You do not want to be on the wrong side of. I can only imagine those on the outside looking in and how much in awe and fear they were in the moment, knowing that Your promises of wrath and destruction were coming to fruition on this once fruitful and glorious town of Jerusalem. Thank You, Father, for always knowing when to restrain Your greatness from us and when to go full force at us with that. You are such an amazing Counselor and Father; I am grateful to call myself a child of God.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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