the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 3 of 5
Lamentations 1:1-11
The Lamentations of Jeremiah express the suffering of the prophet in the face of the events mentioned in the last chapter of his book, namely the capture and destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar’s army. However, as with all prophecy, the full significance of all this extends far beyond the attendant circumstances, and the Holy Spirit takes us in these chapters right up to the time of the "great tribulation" through which Israel will have to pass.
It is touching to see Jeremiah taking the leading role in Jerusalem’s humiliation and identifying himself with the people who are under God’s judgment, even though he himself was innocent. The disaster which he had never ceased to proclaim, and which the people had not wanted to believe, has now come to pass. Anyone else would certainly have said: "I warned you! If only you had listened to me!" God’s servant does not try to get one up in that way. Quite the opposite! Jerusalem, who can no longer find anyone to help her (v. 7; Isaiah 51:18-19) nor anyone to comfort her (vv. 2, 9, 17, 21) in the day of her distress, has now in Jeremiah (a type of Christ) the most faithful of friends and the most ardent of intercessors (Proverbs 17:17).
