Have you ever been hanging out with friends or family, and remembered the “bad times”? There are times when we revisit these events – what I once heard a marriage speaker call “shared traumatic experiences” – when it’s been long enough that we can laugh at the situation and how we got out of it. Still, I don’t hear too many people yearning for the “bad old days”, even though the past had its share of both happy and sad times!
The next few lessons are from Lamentations 3. While most of the chapters of Lamentations tend to follow an acrostic format, chapter 3 is unique in that it has 3 verses per Hebrew letter (rather than just 1 verse per letter), for a total of 66 verses. I don’t intend to drain the details of every verse in these lessons, but I hope that you will take some time to read the whole thing. (By the way, an Internet search suggests that a chapter of 66 verses doesn’t even crack the top 10 chapters with the most verses, though: Top Ten Bible Chapters by Number of Verses | A People for His Name.)
Despite being in the book of Lamentations, which has given us a chance to study the concept of lament over the last several articles, chapter 3 feels a little different from the other four chapters. Some commentators – including the edition of the Lookout cited below – describe the overall book of Lamentations as having an arc that builds up to chapter 3 and then goes back to where it started by chapter 5.
I think that we may find some hidden gems in this chapter that we didn’t know were there, and perhaps even learn – as you probably already know – that you can’t always judge a book by its cover…or its name.
The first 18 verses of Lamentations 3 describe the author’s suffering. I encourage you to read verses 1-18, before we pick up at verse 19.
I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
Lamentations 3:19-20 NIV
This is part of the very nature of lament, isn’t it? We think about – we remember – things that are sad. We don’t ignore the fact that bad things happen, but we acknowledge them. This isn’t just an offhand “Yeah, well, that’s kind of a bummer” statement. It’s an honest assessment of real suffering.
Every Christian who has thought that he or she must put on a good face (i.e., so that other people will think that following Jesus is all rainbows and daisies) has missed some fundamental teachings of Jesus. We think of the shortest verse in the Bible, John 11:35, and remember that “Jesus wept.” A few chapters later (see John 16:33), we learn that Jesus told His disciples that they will have trouble.
So, it’s OK to be sad about bad things. Here, the author’s soul is “downcast”. I was told recently that it’s how Christians handle trouble that makes a difference, not pretending that we don’t have any problems. I’m pretty sure that lying about how we are feeling isn’t how we achieve that.
As a result, it’s OK to remember the bad things. When we have the hope – the confidence – of salvation through Jesus Christ, though, along with the greater blessings that God shares with us, that’s not the end of the story.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for May 28, 2023
References:
- The Lookout, May 28, 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.
Those Who Sin Differently 