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Independence?

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. Our pursuers are at our necks; we are weary; we are given no rest. We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, to get bread enough. Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities. 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. Lamentations 5:1-10 (ESV)   Our ideas have consequences. Our choices are byproducts of our ideas. We need to guard our ideas as much as our actions, for our actions will always follow our ideas.   When we think we can live independently from God, we start making choices apart from His wisdom, guidan...
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We are eternal beings.

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. Our pursuers are at our necks; we are weary; we are given no rest. We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, to get bread enough. Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities. 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. Lamentations 5:1-10 (ESV)   "The Jews are orphans; they have lost their fathers, and their mothers are widows. The series of illustrations of the degradation of Israel seems to be arranged somewhat in the order of time and in accordance with the movement of the people." (W. F. Adeney)   Since we ar...
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The Blame Game

Look, O Lord, and see! With whom have you dealt thus? Should women eat the fruit of their womb, the children of their tender care? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? In the dust of the streets lie the young and the old; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; you have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without pity. Lamentations  2:20-21  (ESV)   It is good to cry out to the Lord and to confess our sins. It is good to recognize the source of the problems in our lives, and the real source is "us."   I find it interesting that people blame God for killing them. Is it that God has killed them and caused their potential to disappear, or is it that God has withdrawn from them and allowed nature to take its course apart from Him?   Whose fault is it when a rebellious child is granted the independence they desire from their parents, and is therefore immersed in the cruel world apart from their wisdom, gui...
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When we seek Him, we find Him.

Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite! "Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street." Lamentations  2:18-19  (ESV)   We have all experienced "emergencies" in this life. For some, those emergencies come in the middle of the night, at a time when all is quiet, when help is at a distance, and when hope seems nothing more than a four-letter word.   It is during that time that we feel most vulnerable. It is our time to cry out to the Lord, the one who is ever present in times of trouble, for He has not abandoned us.   The only time we are distant from God is when we choose to be distant from Him. When we seek Him, we find Him. Hopefully, we seek Him while we s...
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Satan knows how to attack.

All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: "Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?" All your enemies rail against you; they hiss, they gnash their teeth, they cry: "We have swallowed her! Ah, this is the day we longed for; now we have it; we see it!" Lamentations  2:15-16  (ESV)   "Decoration is vanity. All that men can do in the beautifying of their lives is as rottenness if the heart itself be not in a healthy condition. Add to the bitterness of self-remorse the triumphant exultation of enemies who pass by, and say whether any humiliation can be deeper or more intolerable. Where, then, is hope to be found? In heaven. The God whom we have offended must be the God who can forgive us. Do not let us seek to placate our enemies, or turn their triumphing into felicitation: we have no argument with them; not a word ought we to have to say to such mocker...
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God gives us real choices with real consequences.

Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading. Lamentations 2:14 (ESV)   God may allow us to believe what we want, and to go where we want, and therefore get the "results" we deserve.   When I played football, and we needed to block an opposing player, we had a choice about how to do it. One method involved stopping their progress, whereas the other pushed them in the direction they were going, allowing their own momentum to keep them out of the play.   God gives us real choices with real consequences, and if we choose the wrong way, He may watch us move away from significance and allow us to experience consequences that were never meant to be.   2 Thessalonians  2:10-12  (ESV): …and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a str...
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The whole counsel of God.

Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading. Lamentations 2:14 (ESV)   Your prophets (pastors, teachers, elders, and the like) are worthless in that they do not use what they know to hold you accountable. Their negligence has caused a disaster. Once again, we see the problem of false affirmation. Instead of confronting sin, they affirm you in your sin. Instead of a reproof, rebuke, and a challenge, they offer you kudos on the status quo.   Jeremiah also warns us about such prophets in Jeremiah 14:14: And the Lord said to me: 'The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. ' " I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds."   We need to know God's Word and make sure that t guides those to whom we choose to submit. S...
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