Apr 18-19, 2020
Rev. Simon Lee, Senior Pastor RCAC
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I sincerely pray that after the celebration of Easter, the hope of the resurrected Christ has again reminded us that Christ died and rose from the dead for all of us so that we may have life, and life abundant!
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought drastic changes to our individual lives, our family lives, our community life and the communal life that we share as a church family. Never have I felt so isolated, helpless and inadequate. I am learning afresh to be a pastor, to lead the Church to be the Church, and be totally reliant on Christ our Saviour, Sanctifier, Healer and Coming King.
At times like these, I feel like a chef who had prepared a menu and before he knows it, he has to start all over again from scratch. Because of the current pandemic and the order to stay at home, in response I have finally decided to change the current preaching series to this extended theme: “Jesus calms the storms in our lives / Restore us, O Lord.” Starting in May and ending in June, we are going to look at the Old Testament book of Lamentations. Indeed this is the time to lament. I felt led by the Spirit eventually to the book of Lamentations which tells us how the people in Jerusalem and of Judah lamented after the destruction of their city of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BC. They lamented also because they knew the destruction was because of the judgment of God. There are lots of similarities as well as dissimilarities, but we hope that we can all use this book to reflect on our sovereign God in times like these.
In such times as these, we all are naturally looking to God for answer to the suffering and death caused by this pandemic. We wrestle with the issue of theodicy, that is, the vindication of divine goodness and providence when we are faced with the existence of evil and suffering. There are three books in the Old Testament that specifically address the issue of suffering: Job, Lamentations and Habakkuk. Job deals with the problem of personal suffering. Lamentations and Habakkuk both deal with national suffering. Naturally, in the midst of our global catastrophes we gravitate to these latter books and I have chosen for us to reflect together on Lamentations.
Often when natural disasters or calamities caused by human beings, the question is asked, whether it is God’s punishment of humans because of our sins. Indeed in many cases, we can see a relation, as in the repeated pattern and vicious cycle of Israel sinning bringing God’s judgment, and then repentance bringing God’s grace and mercy, then repeated over and over again. But then sometimes God actually allows suffering and evil, as in the case of Job, as a means of testing, and as in the case of Judas, in accomplishing God’s sovereign plan of redemption in Christ. The simple answer to such questions of “why” is “we do not know,” and therefore we should not be tempted to come to the quick conclusion that the suffering we are experiencing must be the judgment of God on this sinful world. But most certainly we can treat what’s happening as warnings pointing us to the end times so we can repent of our sins and can be prepared when Jesus comes again, as surely he would. Maranatha!
A brief introduction to Lamentations:
Author:
“Although probably written by Jeremiah, the book is very likely intentionally anonymous in order to allow anyone to identify with the pain of the ‘I am the man who has seen affliction (3;1).’” (Constable)
Date and Place of Composition:
586-538 B.C. The place of composition was in Judah following the destruction of Jerusalem (586 BC), or in Egypt shortly thereafter, or both.
Purpose:
Its purpose then would have been to memorialize God’s faithfulness which includes bringing covenant punishment on His people for their unfaithfulness to the Mosaic Covenant. The book would then be used to teach later generations the importance of covenant faithfulness and God’s faithfulness.
Structure and Genre:
The book consists of five laments. All but the third of these describe the Babylonians’ destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and its aftermath. Yet the basic structure of the book is chiastic, with the central theme “Great is thy faithfulness,” as follows:
A The misery of Jerusalem’s citizens ch.1 (THE LONELY CITY)
B God’s punishment of Jerusalem ch.2 (THE MERCILESS JUDGEMENT)
C Jeremiah’s personal reactions ch.3 (GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS)
B’ God’s severity toward Jerusalem ch.4 (THE GOLD GROWS DIM)
A’ The response of the godly ch.5 (RESTORE US, O LORD)
The first four chapters are acrostic poems, which would have helped the Jews remember these laments. Chapter 5 while not an acrostic poem, also contains 22 verses.
Dear brothers and sister, I sincerely hope and pray that studying the book of Lamentations would help us understand the situation we are in, be able to say and sing “Great is Thy Faithfulness” and sincerely respond by praying to God humbly: “Restore us, O Lord.”
Your servant in Christ,
Rev. Dr. Simon Lee