There was no more room for denial. In the smoking ruins of Jerusalem, the handful of survivors had to admit that Jeremiah had been right all along. The people had in fact rebelled against God by worshipping idols and oppressing one another. And because God is holy and righteous, He couldn’t allow that to go on any longer (1:18). And even though it was the Babylonians who had burned down the city, the survivors had to admit that its destruction was part of God’s plan, an expression of God’s anger at His people’s infidelity (1:12).
But how could any of this possibly be an expression of God’s love? Well, isn’t it true that love and anger often go together? Don’t we become angriest with those we love the most when they neglect us or hurt us? After all, if someone we don’t care about says something hurtful, we tend to shrug it off: it’s the words of our loved ones that cause the deepest pain, and thus the greatest anger.
No, because love can inspire a whole range of emotions, it is perhaps better understood as a committed relationship than simply a feeling of affection or desire. And we see a hint of that sort of loving relationship in this passage: “Is it nothing to all you who pass this way? Look and see if there is any pain like my pain Which was severely dealt out to me, Which the LORD inflicted on the day of His fierce anger” (1:12).
For it wasn’t just the people of Jeremiah’s Jerusalem who experienced the Lord’s judgment, was it? No, Jesus Himself came to share in that same experience in the same place, when He was nailed to a cross just outside the city walls. As He suffered and died, He thus drew near to His suffering people in the most intimate way possible.
So, yes, we may experience some of the consequences of our rebellion against God in this life. But we can take comfort that God understands what we are going through, and that He loves us enough to take the worst of the penalty we deserve – death and Hell – upon Himself.
Lamentations 1:10-18 (NASB)
10 The adversary has stretched out his hand Over all her precious things, For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, The ones whom Thou didst command That they should not enter into Thy congregation.
11 All her people groan seeking bread; They have given their precious things for food To restore their lives themselves. “See, O LORD, and look, For I am despised.”
12 “Is it nothing to all you who pass this way? Look and see if there is any pain like my pain Which was severely dealt out to me, Which the LORD inflicted on the day of His fierce anger.
13 “From on high He sent fire into my bones, And it prevailed over them; He has spread a net for my feet; He has turned me back; He has made me desolate, Faint all day long.
14 “The yoke of my transgressions is bound; By His hand they are knit together; They have come upon my neck; He has made my strength fail; The Lord has given me into the hands Of those against whom I am not able to stand.
15 “The Lord has rejected all my strong men In my midst; He has called an appointed time against me To crush my young men; The Lord has trodden as in a wine press The virgin daughter of Judah.
16 “For these things I weep; My eyes run down with water; Because far from me is a comforter, One who restores my soul; My children are desolate Because the enemy has prevailed.”
17 Zion stretches out her hands; There is no one to comfort her; The LORD has commanded concerning Jacob That the ones round about him should be his adversaries; Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.
18 “The LORD is righteous; For I have rebelled against His command; Hear now, all peoples, And behold my pain; My virgins and my young men Have gone into captivity.
