The first of six lessons, going through next Friday, May 23,2025.

A few years ago I created a new study for the women I worship with, a study in the book of Psalms.  The first five lessons have been prep lessons, studies in the history of the psalms, the nature of Hebrew poetry, the types of psalms, and the place of music in Old Testament worship.  What has amazed me are the little asides we have come up with—incidental lessons one can draw from hard facts.  We forget that sometimes, and ridicule those who insist on fact learning as being somehow less than spiritual in their outlooks.  Not so, my friends, for those who ignore the facts often make mistakes deadly to their souls.  God had a reason for recording these things so it would behoove us to learn them.
            Here is one for you.  David spent chapter after chapter telling Solomon how to build the Temple.  His instructions were detailed and specific.  Do you think he came up with this all by himself?  I have heard it said so, but David said otherwise.
            Be careful now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong and do it." Then David gave Solomon his son the plan of the vestibule of the temple, and of its houses, its treasuries, its upper rooms, and its inner chambers, and of the room for the mercy seat… All this he made clear to me in writing from the hand of the LORD, all the work to be done according to the plan. 1 Chron. 28:10, 11, 19)
            Even in the disposition of the music and the musicians, David says the command came from God, not his own preferences.  And he stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the commandment of David and of Gad the king's seer and of Nathan the prophet, for the commandment was from the LORD through his prophets. 2 Chronicles 29:25.  May I just say this about that?  When God wanted instrumental music in the worship, He knew exactly how to command it, and he was quite specific about when, how, and what was to be used.
            When I was a music student at the University of South Florida, several of my professors expressed amazement at my religious beliefs concerning music in the services.  “You are a pianist,” they said.  “Don’t you want to use your talent in service to the God who gave it?”
            When I explained as patiently and respectfully as I knew how, “What I want is to give God the service He requires, not the service I prefer,” they were dumbfounded.  It had never crossed their minds, evidently, that the One being served had the right to demand a certain kind of service and would not accept anything else, in fact, would count it as rebellion.
            David never decided what he liked and imposed it upon God.  This is the man who said, “I will not offer to God that which cost me nothing.”  He knew that service to God involved sacrifice, including the sacrifice of what he liked and did not like, what he preferred and did not prefer.  David was truly a servant of God, not a servant of himself. 
            In every aspect of life, which are you?
 
They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain." Hebrews 8:5.
 
Dene Ward

     One thing our utter ignorance about the Psalms has done to us, is make us think we should never worry, never doubt, never complain to our Father.  We talk about maintaining a "stiff upper lip" and never losing our smile, about showing nothing but calm assurance when the trials of life afflict us again and again.  No wonder so many of us just give up and leave.
     I hear even from pulpits that the Book of Psalms is a book of praise.  That is just plain ignorant.  When it comes to sorting out and labeling psalms, the majority of them are psalms of lament.  We think we should never complain to God because that is a sign of ingratitude.  The ancient Jews knew otherwise.  God wants to hear our complaints.  Those complaints show Him that we are dependent upon Him, that we recognize that all our blessings come from Him and that He is the only one who can fix our problems, all of which are signs of great faith.  Let's look at a few of those complaints.

My heart is in anguish within me: And the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me, And horror overwhelms me (Psalm 55:4-5).
Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint… (Psalm 61:1-2).
For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart is struck down like grass and has withered; I forget to eat my bread. Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh. I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places; I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop (Psalm 102:3-7).

     These psalms are by people of God, including David.  Do you see the words they have chosen?  Anguish, terror, fear and trembling, faint heart.  The psalmist is so upset he can't sleep, he can't eat, and this has been going on so long that he has lost weight ("my bones cling to my flesh").  Most of us would chide him for his lack of faith, but only true faith will believe it can go to God with anything, describing his feelings freely.  Only true faith trusts that God cares and will not only hear, but act on our prayers.  We need to get our perspective in the same order as those earlier believers before our mistaken idea of faith destroys us.
     It's all right to be afraid.  It's all right to wonder if God has abandoned you.  It's all right to weep aloud and complain with all you have within you.  For those very complaints and meditations will lead us to a new understanding of faith as well as a deeper variety of faith.  After the psalmists complain, they inevitably restate their trust to an even stronger degree in a God they know loves them.  Look at the endings of all those psalms we quoted above.

But I call to God, and the LORD will save me. ​Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice (Ps 55:16-17).
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.  For you, O God, have heard my vows; you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name. (Psalm 61:2,3,5).
For the LORD builds up Zion; he appears in his glory; he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer (Psalm 102:16-17).

     Lest we think this only applied in the Old Testament, and today we should never show fear, doubt, or upset, let alone complain, let's see what Paul had to say about that.

For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn— fighting without and fear within (2 Corinthians 7:5).  Sounds to me like Paul is admitting that he was afraid.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).  This sounds like people shared their problems not only with one another, but with God first.

     Over and over we will find exhortations to help the afflicted, to pray for the afflicted, the comfort the afflicted, to "weep with those who weep".  None of this sounds like a people who suffer in silence.
     It's okay to be afraid when life hands you something scary.  Never think that fear and trembling during those times is a lack of faith and trust in God.  Maybe those things were meant to turn you to Him more often, more diligently, and more intensely.  Complain with all your heart, but complain to the God who can help you through it, and who will do His best to lend you the comfort you need in those times.  In your complaint, you will find your faith.

Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit. ​Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul (Psalm 143:7-8).

Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

When we read Psalm Two from this side of the cross, all we can see is the Messianic imagery.  We forget that this is a psalm of David (Acts 4:25), written in the first person.  It has been suggested that David wrote it for his coronation or his conquering of Jerusalem as his capital.  David is the one called the son of God and the one promised rule over the nations.  Considering his career as a conqueror, God kept that promise.  David is the one referred to as the Lord's Anointed (Messiah) which is correct as he was chosen by God and anointed by God's prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 16).  In like manner, David often referred to Saul as the Lord's anointed.  As the nations raged against God, His anointed, and His plans, David writes of God laughing in His majesty. The near fulfilment of this psalm is the reign of David over Israel and the establishment of his kingdom. 

          But like most of the reign of David, this psalm foreshadows the coming Messiah.  It is easy to see the begotten Son of God establishing a kingdom which reached the ends of the earth (Dan. 2) and ruling absolutely.  What is interesting are the many uses of the psalm in the New Testament. 

Mark 1:11  "And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.'"  The opening of God's statement here quotes nearly verbatim the statement in Ps. 2:7.  It seems as if God is not merely acknowledging Jesus as His son audibly from heaven (if "merely" can even be used of such a thing!), but in choosing that phrasing He intentionally calls to mind all the promises to the Son in Psalm 2. 

Acts 13:30-33  "But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.  And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’"  Paul teaches that the Resurrection was the ultimate declaration of the Sonship of Jesus.  The "today" in which the Son was inarguably declared to be the only begotten was that Sunday during which the women were shocked to find an empty tomb.  Upon that day, then, the fulness of the promises to the Son in Psalm two would begin to be fulfilled:  a kingdom established and rule provided, which is exactly what we see in Matt. 28 and Acts 2.

Heb. 1:5  "For to which of the angels did God ever say, 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you'"?  In referring to Psalm Two, Jesus is declared better than the angels.  Jesus is the better messenger bringing the better message, proved by the prophecy of Psalm 2.

Heb. 5:5-6  "So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you'; as he says also in another place, 'You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.'" The one declared to be God's High Priest is the one declared to be Son in Psalm Two.  How could we possibly have a better priest than the Son of God? 

Acts 4:23-30  "When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.  And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.  And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” The Apostles, having been arrested and then threatened because they were teaching the Gospel, prayed for boldness while referencing Psalm Two.  It is clear from their prayer that they saw the crucifixion of Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment of Ps. 2:1-3 and deemed their current problems a continuation of that same attack by worldly forces (Ward, Our Eyes Are On You, pg. 224).  If one compares the people mentioned in the prayer to the quotation a surprise awaits.  David says it is the "Gentiles, peoples and kings of the earth" opposing the Lord's Anointed.  The Apostles equate that to Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles "and the peoples of Israel".  Lumping Israelites in with the heathen to fulfil what David called the nations/Gentiles is a clear teaching that "not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel." Instead, only those believing in Jesus were now of the Kingdom of God, a thought originating in Psalm 2.  (Rom. 9:6)

Rev. 2:26-27  "The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father."  This specifically references Jesus declaration in Psalm two that the conquering Christian will share in His authority and power.  The Psalm, long understood to be about the Messiah, the Messiah Himself says is about the glory of the citizens of the kingdom of Heaven!

Rev 11:18  The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” The opening phrase of the psalm is used to identify the Roman Empire as it stands against the church.

Rev 12:5  She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne. Who was this male child?  He was the one who ruled the nations with a rod of iron.  According to psalm two, that is the Messiah! 

Rev 19:15  From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.  Victory in Jesus!

          As we look at the Messianic nature of Psalm two we see not merely a short mention of the Messiah and his kingdom, but also God's divine witness to the Sonship of Jesus, the proclamation of the Resurrection as Jesus' coronation day, the superiority of the Message and the Messenger, and the victory of the Church in Jesus over all tribulation and trial, even that of the great Roman Empire.  Psalm two teaches that believers, not members of physical Israel, are the true citizens of the kingdom and that as we overcome for Jesus, He will share the glory promised Him in Psalm two with each and every one of us!

          There are few passages referenced more often by New Testament writers than Psalm two, and even fewer whose references carry greater import. 
 
Lucas Ward

In the past few years I have found myself fighting sleepless nights on more than one occasion.  Keith always tells me that when that happens to him, he sings hymns in his mind until he falls back asleep.  I have yet to find a better thing to do, unless it is praying, but often they are the same.  How many songs can you find in your hymnals that are nothing more than prayers set to music?  I have a feeling that most of David’s psalms follow that same pattern.
            I recently found a phrase in the middle of a scripture that made me smile, even though the context didn’t.  Still, I think pulling that phrase out of its context is not wresting the scriptures in this case.  “God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,” Job 35:10.  I wonder how many times those hymns have popped into our heads because a loving God sent them our way to help calm us and reassure us.
            The righteous sing for joy on their beds, Psalm 149:5.  After I found that verse, I began to wonder why “bed” was particularly mentioned, just as “night” was in Job. 
            Perhaps it is a metaphoric allusion.  We take to our beds when we are seriously ill.  I can get up and do things when I have a cold, but if I am really sick, I am in bed.  People who are nearing death are usually in bed, in fact, we call it the “death bed.”  In times of worry, when we try to sleep, we find ourselves tossing and turning in bed, just as I have done so often recently.  Why would we be inclined to sing at those times?
            Isn’t it obvious?  If we are God’s children, we have hope, we have a foundation of joy in our lives that keeps us grounded, and that joy often shows itself in song.  Even in prison, having been beaten and wondering what the morning would bring, Paul and Silas sang hymns of praise “at midnight,” Acts 16:25.  They weren’t in a comfortable bed, but the “nighttime” of trouble was upon them.  Even from childhood, aren’t we all just a little afraid of the dark?
            Do not think it strange that songs often come to us during these times.  Our God does not leave us desolate.  He gives us songs in the “night,” songs of comfort, songs of hope, songs of praise for his grace and love, songs of encouragement, songs of edification and even chastisement.  Those songs would not come to your mind without a God who cared enough not only to send his Son, but to send you songs in the times you need them most, in the night time of sorrow and fear and pain. 
            Often the grace of God comes in a song that keeps going round and round in your mind.  It’s up to you to sing it.
 
By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. Psa 42:8
 
Dene Ward

“Just like my tattoo, you’ll always be with me.” 
            Is it just me or do today’s love songs leave you a little cold?  I nearly laughed out loud at the lyric above when I heard it on the radio a few years ago.  Then I realized it was supposed to be a serious sentiment and I wanted to cry.  What has become of romance?
           
            She walks in beauty like the night
                        Of cloudless climes and starry skies,
            And all that’s best of dark and bright
                        Meet in her aspect and her eyes.
 
            Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
            Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
 
            How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.
 
And now we have the tattoo song?  Surely Lord Byron, William Shakespeare and Elizabeth Barrett Browning are doing the proverbial grave roll as today’s “love songs” waft down through the loam.
            Did it ever occur to you that we are to be singing love songs to God?  For some reason we focus on the father-child relationship when the scripture also emphasizes the husband-wife bond. 
             You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you, Isa 62:3-5.
            Maybe we feel a little uncomfortable talking to God as if he were our “beloved,” especially the gentlemen among us.  Yet David several times uses that term in his psalms.  Certainly romantic love isn’t the only metaphor used of the relationship between God and his people, but each one has a particular emphasis, and perhaps by avoiding this one, we miss an important point.
            What kinds of things do we say to our spouses?  Just think of the love songs from your own decade.  I would climb the highest mountain, swim the deepest sea; Until the twelfth of never I’ll still be loving you; I can’t help falling in love with you; You mean the world to me, I know I’ve found in you my endless love; All I ask for is one love, one lifetime, say the word and I will follow you.  All of these emphasize the point of marriage—a love for someone that causes you to change yourself, to give up anything and anyone, and be willing to bear the tribulations of life together, “ for better or for worse, until death do us part.”  Isn’t that a good description of the commitment you once made to the Lord?
            And what is it Jesus says is the greatest commandment?  Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind, Luke 10:27 (Deut 6:5).  I hope at least once in your life you have said to your spouse, “I love you with all my heart.”  If you haven’t, you had better make tracks and do so right now!
            Then there is the matter of fidelity in marriage.  Just as one today might put away an unfaithful spouse, God in righteous indignation will put away a people who make commitments to anything or anyone besides him—Isa 50, Jer 3,11,12, Ezek 16 and 23, and Hosea 1-3 to name just a few passages where the figure is used.  Any who have had to deal with it firsthand know that divorce is a painful experience; that one grieves after it just as if they lost a spouse by death.  Certainly we do not want God to put us away in a similar way—yet he most certainly will.
            So today, think about God as your beloved, the one you love most in the world, the one you have changed your life for and plan to live with forever.  Don’t take that relationship for granted, as you sometimes do your earthly marriage.  Sing a love song to God.
 
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
When I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
For you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. Psalm 63:1-7.
 
Dene Ward

The fifth lament is often labeled "a prayer."  This wicked nation has finally admitted its guilt and asks God to "remember," "restore," and "renew" His covenant with them.  What did it take to make them reach this point?  Being shamed and disgraced for all the world to see.  Before, they viewed themselves as the greatest nation in the world because they had been "chosen" by God.  It made them indomitable, they believed.  God would never suffer disgrace Himself and that is exactly what would happen if the people He was supposed to protect were conquered.  Their pride kept them from seeing the Truth—when they broke the covenant, God was no longer bound by it.  His bride had been unfaithful and He cast her off.  Finally, their pride was broken. 

            Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace! ​
       Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.
           We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows.
           We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought...​
          Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us from their hand. ​
         We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness.
          Our skin is hot as an oven with the burning heat of famine.
          Women are raped in Zion, young women in the towns of Judah. ​
          Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders.
        Young men are compelled to grind at the mill, and boys stagger under loads of wood. ​
          The old men have left the city gate, the young men their music... ​
​          The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!
          (Lam 5:1-16)

Now they can admit their sin and their dependence upon God, and ask for His forgiveness.

​          Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old-- (Lam 5:21).

And what can we learn from this?  Pride may be one of the worst problems this generation has.  We are imbued with the notion of self-esteem from birth, it seems.  The inability to admit wrong and lower oneself in the presence of One more mighty and righteous has made it impossible to teach anyone about God and His Laws.  Everything is judged by emotion and "the right" to an opinion, instead of black and white Truth. 

I have heard more people, including Christians, arguing with God, denouncing God when things go wrong, telling God exactly what they expect Him to do for them than I ever have before.  "Why, after all my faithfulness?" they ask when a trial comes, as if God owes them a perfect life here on earth. 

There is little appreciation for the seriousness of sin, especially those "little ones."  In fact it has become something to joke about.  The fact that all it took to ruin this world was one bite from a piece of fruit seems to escape everyone's notice.  That one little bite was an open indictment of God by His creation.  "You're just being mean not to let us eat this," Adam and Eve were saying, falling headlong into Satan's trap.

In the church today we have a problem similar to Israel's.  God's people then still showed up every Sabbath Day and offered every sacrifice the Law required.  We think that because we are so careful to keep every ritual exactly the right way that we are immune from any judgment.  We have become "the chosen."  Meanwhile, our hearts are just as bad as our neighbors' and our care in following the Biblical pattern doesn't extend beyond the church house door.  A pattern of lifestyle--"conformed to the image of His Son"—never enters the equation.

The only way to reconcile ourselves to God is to surrender, to admit wrong, and to prostrate ourselves and our hearts before the Most Holy.  "The just shall live by faith,"  God told Habakkuk as the Babylonians approached, a faith that accepts the will of God and stays faithful in all areas of life, no matter how rough things may get. 

"The Babylonians" may yet fall upon us in our lives, either individually or as a group.  I can see the day drawing near in the things happening in our culture.  It's time to reject our pride and self-sufficiency if we hope to avoid the things this people had to endure in whatever fashion they may take.  Perhaps we won't have to learn these things as they did--the hard way.
 
Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD! ​Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: (Lam 3:40-41)
 
Dene Ward

For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands were wrung for her. (Lam 4:6)
            The fourth Lament may be the hardest one to read.  Many of the ladies in our study shuddered involuntarily as the verses piled horror upon horror in their ears and minds.  Even the pagans were astounded at the wrath of God.  The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem. (Lam 4:12)
            Then we turned back to the original covenant.  Read Deut 28:28-57 today for your daily reading, and then find the fulfillment of all these things in the fourth Lament, as well as scattered in the prophets.  But here especially, verse after verse, reminds the people exactly why they are experiencing these horrible things. 
            "But we are the chosen people," they said again and again as they ignored prophet after prophet. …He will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine (Jer 5:12). "God won't destroy us," which in their minds meant "God can't destroy us because of all His promises."  They forgot one thing.  Precisely because of the covenant, when they broke their end of it, God was forced to keep His end to remain righteous, and His part was administering justice.  He could not remain holy and faithful and not punish them. 
            And so what is the lesson for us?  We have a new covenant with God.  He has told us several times what will happen with those who have "trodden underfoot" the blood of his Son, the blood of that new covenant.  The religious world wants to assuage your fears with the same sort of talk as the false prophets of old, crying, "Peace, peace, when there is no peace" (Jer 6:14).  A loving God would never punish or destroy; He would never send anyone to hell, they say in all their theological sophistication.
            The writer of the fourth Lament would beg to differ.  God did it once.  He will most certainly do it again.
 
See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Heb 12:25-29)

Dene Ward

The third Lament begins exactly like the first two—long lists of the terrible things God's people had to endure.  But there is a difference here too.  While the first two are written in third person or as Jerusalem herself, this one is personal and individual:  I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; (Lam 3:1).  He goes on to describe his afflictions in detail, but suddenly, in the middle of all this despair, for the first time, he interjects some hope.
            Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ​“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” (Lam 3:19-24)
            If you have read the entire lament, the first thing you will think is, "Wait a minute!  The writer just said in verse 18 that his hope has perished."  Evidently, according to Evan and Marie Blackmore in Let Us Search Our Ways, this is a type of construction common to Hebrew poetry where a thought is put out for consideration and then discussed.  Eventually the writer dismisses the notion of a lost hope.  And why?  Because of "the steadfast love of the Lord." 
            "Steadfast love," or "lovingkindness" in other versions, is covenant language.  After a while you begin to recognize certain words and phrases that automatically point to the covenant God made with His people.  Despite the people's failure to keep that covenant, God continues to keep his promises to Abraham and David.  He continues to love these feckless, unfaithful children of His because He is righteous, not because they are.
            The ASV on 3:22 makes this most apparent.  It is of Jehovah's lovingkindnesses [steadfast love] that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. (Lam 3:22)
            Even looking at all the horrible things that have happened to the people, the writer says that without God's love, things would be even worse.  The fact that God's care for them can be seen at all—they are still alive!--gives them hope. 
            Later on the writer lists three reasons to hope:
            1) For the Lord will not cast off forever, (v 31).  Even this well-deserved punishment will come to an end. 
            2) But, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love. (Lam 3:32)  After the punishment God will show pity and compassion on His people.  He will once again bless them.
            3) ​For he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men. (Lam 3:33). God did not send this punishment because it pleased him, but to bring about repentance and to repair the broken relationship.
            And so in the midst of our trials today, we can still have hope.   Remember that it will eventually end.  "This too shall pass," we often say, and it will.  Not only that, but God will have pity on us.   His blessings will not cease.  We may just have to look a little harder for them for a while.  And God never sends trials out of spite.  Even if our trials are not for punishment as theirs were, God always has some goal in mind—strength, clarity, wisdom—something that He expects us to glean from our troubles.  They are never pointless.
            And God's compassion never fails.  No matter how bad things are, His goodness is visible in something close by.  Thorns may pierce, but the roses still bloom.  Bees may sting, but they still make honey.  God has not promised that we will never travel through dark valleys, but He has promised to go through them with us.  Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me" Psalm 23:4.
            Add to all that this one constant:  grace.  The worst day we ever have is better than we deserve.  If you cannot see the hope in your trials, you will ultimately fail them. 
 
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. ​It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. ​It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. (Lam 3:25-27)
 
Dene Ward        

Question 4 on our lesson sheet for the second lament was "What is the focus of this lament?" 
             Almost in unison came the answer:  "The anger of God." 
            You couldn't miss it.  The poet uses three Hebrew nouns 7 times along with two verbal expressions for anger.  Then you have the list of things God did in His anger—and there was no quibbling about it:  God did them, not the Babylonians.  He "laid waste his booth," " laid in ruins his meetingplace," "spurned king and priest," "made Zion forget Sabbath," "scorned his altar," and "disowned his sanctuary."  He destroyed the very worship he had set up for his people and the people seemed to have no trouble recognizing that God had every right to do it.  They broke the Covenant.  It was all their fault.
            Today we all want to focus on the God of love.  I know it when I hear things like, "God wants me to be happy.  He would never be angry about such a little thing.  He would never _______________."
            First of all, what God wants is for us to be holy so we can spend an Eternity with him.  We cannot if we are anything less than pure because we couldn't—wouldn't—give up the pleasures of even the smallest of sins, and that means that sometime we won't be very "happy."  "Sin separates you from God."  If, after all the blessings I have received from Him and after the huge sacrifice He made for me, I am so unspiritual that I cannot make a relatively insignificant sacrifice for Him in order to make myself acceptable, I deserve His anger and whatever punishment goes along with it.  Yes, He will too ____________, and even these stubborn, selfish, prideful, ungrateful, unmerciful, and unfaithful people of His eventually figured it out. 
            For us to picture God as a one-dimensional Being who only forgives and loves is nothing short of arrogant.  God as our Creator has every right to be angry with the created ones who break His laws.  When unbelievers blast God for that anger—"How could a just God allow these things to happen?"--don't think you have to apologize for Him.  He doesn't need us to explain it away in order to make Him more palatable to a shallow, ungodly, and disobedient world now any more than He did then.
 
The Lord has swallowed up without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers. He has cut down in fierce anger all the might of Israel; he has withdrawn from them his right hand in the face of the enemy; he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob, consuming all around. He has bent his bow like an enemy, with his right hand set like a foe; and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes in the tent of the daughter of Zion; he has poured out his fury like fire. The Lord has become like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel; he has swallowed up all its palaces; he has laid in ruins its strongholds, and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. (Lam 2:2-5)
              
Dene Ward

As we said last time, the first lament is one of overwhelming sadness.  In a mere 22 verses, the writer uses tears, weep, cry, and mourn a total of five times; distress, affliction and misery a total of seven times; sigh and groan a total of four times, and no comfort and desolate a total of seven times.  That is more words describing grief than there are verses in the lament.
            The speaker is Jerusalem herself.  She is no longer a "princess" but a "widow."   She whose streets were once full of people, is now lonely.  Her friends have become her enemies.  Even her roads mourn because they are no longer traversed by happy families traveling to celebrate the Jewish festivals. 
            In verses 8 and 9 she recognizes her sin, but at this point seems more embarrassed at the disgrace than anything else.  The pagans have seen her nakedness so she "groans and turns her face away."  "The Lord is in the right," she says. "I have been very rebellious, BUT…"
            Look at poor little me.  God has been so hard on me.  Everyone is laughing at me.  No one will comfort me.  See my suffering.  Yes, she is suffering badly, far worse than any of us ever have, but something is missing, even in her confession of sin.  She has more to learn about the purpose of punishment and the correct way to view it. 
            However, the grief itself is not wrong.  God has made that plain throughout his Word.  Even righteous men are shown to grieve, Abraham, David, Hezekiah, and Paul among them.  Even Jesus cried.  Paul told the Roman brethren to "Weep with those who weep," not look down on them and rebuke them for crying.  The promise we have ultimately is that God will wipe away all the tears from our eyes—then, not now.
            But our grief is to be different.  "We sorrow not AS those who have no hope" (1 Thes 4:13), not "We sorrow not."  And if on occasion, our grief is caused by our own sin, as with these people, we have an even larger obligation in our grief.  Godly sorrow works repentance (2 Cor 7:10).  These people are still working on that.  Eventually they will get there, but not quite yet.
            God made us to grieve.  It is human nature to miss a loved one, to be frightened by a bad diagnosis, to be overwhelmed by a loss of physical things, and especially by a spiritual loss.  It is even correct to grieve in such a dramatic and lengthy way as these people did.  As sinful as they were, when you read these laments and see what they went through, you still feel compassion and pity for them.
            But as with everything God made, He made grief to serve a purpose.  It can bring repentance, it can bring strength, it can bring clarity, and help us learn priorities.  Use it, not as self-pity, but the way He intended. 
 
Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negeb! ​Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. (Ps 126:4-6)

Dene Ward