The Funeral of a City

I had the privilege of attending a funeral yesterday.  It may seem strange for me to call it a privilege, but it's an honor for me to be present with and for a friend who has lost a loved one.  I want to give them a big bear hug and let them know that I love them and am standing with them.  A funeral is also a good time for me to reflect on the brevity of life and to remember what my priorities are and should be.

My "Talk Through the Bible" study book states that "Lamentations describes the funeral of a city."  Jeremiah was the likely author of this book and as we know, he had a VERY tough job to do for God.  He also witnessed first-hand the horrific destruction of the city of Jerusalem including the temple.  God had to punish the Israelites and take them through this process.  It was his promised judgement and punishment for sin of His people. 

I have found some interesting facts about the writing itself, but I want to share how one of my study books breaks down the five chapters of Lamentations:

• Chapter 1 - The grief
• Chapter 2 - The cause
• Chapter 3 - The hope
• Chapter 4 - The repentance
• Chapter 5 - The prayer

As I saw this book compared to a funeral and that there are five chapters, I thought about the process of grieving and the five stages of grief that are sometimes recognized during the process.  It's interesting to me how closely they line up with the five chapters of Lamentations:

• Denial - Chapter 1 conveys shock and unbelief of the circumstances
• Anger - Chapter 2 conveys the anger of the Lord (instead of the mourner)
• Bargaining - Chapter 3 transitions from words of devastation to recognition of God's compassion
• Depression - Chapter 4 describes the sad, helpless state of the nation of Israel
• Acceptance - Chapter 5 conveys acknowledgement of their state and a plea to God for restoration

We may not have to experience death of a loved one to go through the grieving process.  We may experience similar feelings and "stages" after a close friend moves away, or we leave one job and start another, or we come home from a much anticipated and wonderful mission trip. OR there may be sin in our life that needs to "die".  We may like it and not want to let it go.  But, God commands obedience and promises that He will give us the strength.  We may need to go through the painful process of grieving for our sin or life changes that need to be made to remove ourselves from a sinful situation or choices.  However, we can trust in God's promises for restoration.

As I read through these passages, I can only imagine the humility and other emotions the Israelites were experiencing.  The translated Hebrew title for this book is "Why...!".  I think that is so fitting.  What a time of reflection and deep soul searching this must have been for them.  As Pastor Chris has just begun a sermon series on prayer at Oak Hill, I am challenged to spend more time just "being" with God.  He desires for us to be in close and constant fellowship with Him.  Through that close relationship with God, He will show us areas of our life that need to be cleansed of sin and he gives us the instructions and strength to deal with that.

We can be honest with God like Jeremiah was:

"See, O Lord, how distressed I am!

I am in torment within,

and in my  heart I am disturbed,

for I have been most rebellious."

~Lamentations 1:20

We can (and should) be humbled before God over our sin:

"My eyes fail from weeping,

I am in torment within,

my heart is poured out on the ground

because my people are destroyed,

because children and infants faint

in the streets of the city."

~Lamentations 2:11

We can have hope by believing in God's promises:

"Yet this I call to mind

and therefore I have hope:

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion;

therefore I will wait for him."

~Lamentations 3:21-24

The last verses of our reading today are so encouraging and uplifting to me.  Even when we don't feel like it or believe it ourselves... He has great love for us! He is good! He is compassionate! He is faithful! "Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love." (3:32)

WE WILL NEVER FORGET

Our God is so amazing. Today on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 did anyone know that today's chapters would be on war and the fall of Babylon. None of us will ever forget that day or what we were doing when we heard the awful news. That day was doubly hard on me. I watched the plane hitting the Twin Towers thinking at first it was a movie. My husband and I talked about it before I left for a class I was taking. Little did I know at that time it would be the last real conversation I would have with him. That night he went into the hospital and passed away two months later.

God had allowed Israel to be attacked in wars when they strayed away from Him. When they cried out to Him, He was always there to help them out. Upon reading these chapters, I can see how much today is like it was then. Our country, like Israel, has been turning away from our God. God allowed our country to face this horrible act. After 9/11 people came together holding hands with strangers as they prayed together crying out to God for help. God let us know that He was in control by the cross made by steel beams found at Ground Zero and by all the miracles we heard from stories of people who should of been there but weren't because something kept them from being there on time.

As I read about Babylon being destroyed. I thought of the Middle East. On that fateful day, they were dancing in the street. The dancing has stopped and has been replaced by fighting, killing and utter chaos. Their governments have toppled and their lives are in shambles.

Will we as a country turn back to God or will we turn our backs on God. How many more attacks will it take? How many more disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods) will it take for the United States to turn back to our God. We are a Christian nation and it is time for American Citizens who are Christians to stand up for our God.

May each of us take a few moments out of our day to say a silent prayer for those who had family members who died that day. Some of them were Christians and are with our Lord today. Others will never have the chance to accept Him. The terrorist die thinking they are going to heaven but they are going to hell instead so even though what they did was wrong, we need to pray for their families that they will find the truth and accept it and find salvation. I personally find it very hard to pray for these people and I need God's help for me to do this.

Those who forget the past are apt to repeat it. Lord Help Us. We will never forget 9/11/01.

Are you ready to fight?

As I am writing this ladies, it is the eve of the Beth Moore Simulcast at Oak Hill and SO MANY of you have been working AMAZINGLY hard to make this big day a success.  I personally want to thank you for ALL that you have done for this special day, especially to Jaybrena and Terry.  You all simply amaze me and I call myself VERY blessed to have you all as friends and sisters in Christ.  I simply cannot wait to see what God is going to do in the lives of so many women tomorrow during this incredible event.  I hope as you are reading this at some point on Saturday, you will find yourself eternally changed for having gone to the simulcast!  Since I know that all of us will probably be tired :) I am going to keep my post relatively short!

During chapters 49 and 50, we find ourselves in the middle of Jeremiah proclaiming God's judgment on several nations.  These two chapters focus on the nations of Ammon, Edom, Damascus (Syria), Kedar, Hazor, Elam, and Babylon.  As I have been studying the book of Revelation with my high school Bible class, we are constantly amazed at the fact that people are SO BLINDED to believing in this amazing God of ours.  Even when they have SEEN God's judgment happen in the book of Revelation and have actually experienced it for themselves, they still refuse to believe in our Lord!  Chapter 9 of Revelation says this in verses 20-21:

"The rest of the people, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands to stop worshipping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which are not able to see, hear, or walk.  And they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts."
                              

This quote comes after the 6th Trumpet judgment of God and it is utterly terrifying.  But so are the judgements that God is proclaiming against these countries here in the book of Jeremiah and yet we see the that people STILL continue to do these types of wicked things all the way through to the end of time as revealed in the book of Revelation. 

So...what in the world are we to do with this information?  After all, I am not sure how one could think we are NOT getting close to the events revealed at the end of the Bible when we are about to remember that HORRIBLE and TERRIFYING day 10 years ago when people flew large airline jets into buildings killing thousands of innocent people!!!  WE need to be ready as Christians for the fight that we are facing and we need to be equipping our young people for the fight that is only going to get worse in their lifetimes.  It is a battle and we need to be armed and ready!  Would you send your child off to a war and not teach them how to defend themselves and how to fight?  OF COURSE NOT!!!  So why would we do this with the spiritual battles that they (and we) are facing when this battle is not just for lives or land or hate, but this battle is for the very souls of people for all eternity!  ARE YOU READY TO FIGHT????