Did No One Really See It Coming?

Have you ever had to counsel a friend who was experiencing the natural consequences of a bad choice?  Parents who strategically allow their children to still make incorrect decisions (even after they have been taught better) have to resist the urge to say, “I told you so” when the predicted outcomes occur.  (Well, good parents probably have to do that.  I’m not always so successful in keeping thoughts like that to myself.)  Or, maybe we see someone in the news reaping the obvious results of their actions, and wonder what they were thinking.

This may trigger a few self-righteous feelings in us, but I suspect that this temptation fades for you – just like it does for me – when we realize that we’ve done similar things, ourselves.

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In Lamentations 4, I feel like verse 12 is a key message, near the middle of the chapter.  After describing a list of bad situations and bad behavior, we learn the following:

The kings of the earth did not believe,
nor did any of the peoples of the world,
that enemies and foes could enter
the gates of Jerusalem.

Lamentations 4:12 NIV
https://lamentations.bible/lamentations-4-12

Perhaps we could paraphrase this as “No one saw this coming”.  But why not?  Didn’t God make it clear that ongoing disobedience would be punished?  Didn’t God send prophets to explain that the nation’s current behavior was leading to destruction?

Having said that, verse 12 sounds to me like it’s talking about nations outside of Judah.  It seems like the rest of the world looked at Jerusalem and had decided that it was invincible.  I imagine them saying, “No one will ever invade there.  Just look at what their God has done for the people every time someone has tried to attack that city.”

I wonder if maybe the message that made it out of Jerusalem was “sanitized”, scrubbed of all of the warnings of the actual prophets of God, and leaving only the feel-good messages of the false prophets as the narrative that those outside of the Promised Land heard.

(I don’t think that human beings have changed much, though, from those times.  Today, it seems like everyone reads or watches their favorite news sources, and then insists that everyone else has to think the same thing.  The search for truth has been – in many places – replaced with the search for others who agree with us (or who hate the same people we hate), despite evidence to the contrary.)

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If verse 12 suggested that “no one saw this coming”, though, the next couple of verses (Lamentations 4:13-14) tell us – at least in part – why it did happen.  Prophets and priests – who should have been the spiritual leaders of the people – walked down the wrong path.  And, where leaders go astray, a community often follows.

So, what do we do to avoid this?  When the obvious logical outcome of what is going on around us is pretty unpleasant, how can we be part of the solution?

First, let us seek and speak truth, especially when the popular narrative is wrong.  Not sure where to start?  Read 2 Timothy 3:14-17.  Not sure if you can stand up for truth?  Read 2 Timothy 4:2-5.

Secondly, let us remember what is truly valuable.  Wealth, popularity, authority, and power can be fleeting, and if we put our trust in them, we run the risk of them becoming worthless in circumstances when we really need help.  Instead, a relationship with God, along with the intrinsic value of human beings who are created in His image, supersede any of the fleeting stuff and social silliness of this world, which is destined to be replaced, anyway.

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From Sunday School lesson prepared for May 7, 2023

References:

• The Lookout, May 7, 2023, © 2023 Christian Standard Media.
• Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
• The College Press NIV Commentary – Jeremiah-Lamentations, by Timothy M. Willis.  © 2002 College Press Publishing Co.