Jeremiah’s Lament: Voice Your Lament Alongside Him

Many Laments are found in Bible in the book of Psalms.  For thousands of years, these laments, hymns, songs and prayers are what God’s people used to share their feeling with the Lord and to reset their hearts on His promises. Our journey through the Bible and grief started with the Disciples in fear, went to wandering the in the desert with Moses, sat with Job in deep anguish and now we walk with the weeping prophet, Jeremiah.

“My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within; my heart is poured out on the ground my people are destroyed” (Jeremiah 2:11).

By: Michelangelo The Prophet Jeremiah (1512)

The book of Jeremiah shares his attempts to call back the king of Judah to repentance. Jeremiah is hated due to his message to repent from idol worship and his warning of the coming siege of the Babylonians. Jeremiah is put into prison, finally thrown into a cistern, and sadly watches His people reject God’s warnings. Rejection of Jeremiah’s warnings ends with their being taken captive. The book of Jeremiah predicts Judah’s fall.

In Jeremiah’s book of Lamentations, he reflects on this destruction of Jerusalem and shares a funeral song. His song can help us release our many tangled emotions of loss, sadness, confusion and anger to the Lord.

In Chapters 1 of Lamentations, Jeremiah’s mourning is poured out:

“How deserted lies the city, once so full of people!

How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations!

She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave” (Lamentations 1:1).

Try it here:

Lord, look at the disorder all around! ________________________________________ (lost companionship, no food, no money, piles of laundry, etc. When C.S. Lewis lost his wife, he describes his loss this way: “Her absence is like the sky – spread over everything” (Lewis, 2012).)

The loss of my ___________________ makes me feel _________________________________.

(tangled up inside, in distress, broken, lost, anxious, extreme sadness, so tired, anger, numb…)

In Chapter 2 of Lamentations, Jeremiah reflects on God’s allowing of this tragedy:

“The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord.

You walls of Daughter Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night;

give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest” (Lamentations 2:18).

Try it here:

Lord, how could you allow __________________.                                                        (their death, their pain, my distress, my last words, my anguish…)      

In Chapter 3 of Lamentations, Jeremiah remembers God’s character:

^“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” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Try it here:

Lord Jesus, but I know you are: ____________________________.                 (loving, merciful, good, forgiving, gracious, compassionate, faithful…)           

In Chapter 3 and 4 Jeremiah Renews his hope in the Lord:

^“I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,    

to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:24-26).

Try it here:

So Lord Jesus I choose to:  _________________                                                            (put my hope in you, trust, seek you, make you my portion, give this to you…)        

Finally, in Chapter 5, Jeremiah waits for God’s Restoration:

^“You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. 

Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? 

Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old” (Lamentations 5:19-21).

Try it here:                                                                                                

And now I wait for you Lord to restore: ___________________________                           (death, my memories, my distress, my last words, my anguish…)             

Jeremiah was called in the beginning of his ministry with these words:

“I formed you in the womb I knew you,    

before you were born, I set you apart...”(Jeremiah 1:4).

I’m sure he repeated these words over and over as he watched destruction unfold.

What scripture will you repeat over to yourself?

What helps you remember the days of old?

Write it here: __________________________

If you can’t think of a scripture, try praying one alongside some of our Biblical Guides:

• Lord please, give me your peace. "Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you” ( John 20:19)! 

• Lord please, show me your glory. “Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (Exodus 33:18-19).

• Lord please, help me remember to praise you. “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21).

• Lord thank you for forming me for setting me apart for your sake. “I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart...”(Jeremiah 1:4).

• Lord, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).

Even after the destruction of Jerusalem Jeremiah does not give up sharing God’s message with His people:

“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:4-7).

And so, we too can join the people of God. We too can pray and rebuild our lives with the hope that God does restore us. He restores our moments daily and he will restore us one day for all eternity.

For the first time, the words of Jeremiah 29:11 resonate with me. Jeremiah addresses this scripture to the tribe of Judah, prophesying their return to Jerusalem during Cyrus the Great's era. Indeed, they pray and they rebuild!

“This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you” (Jeremiah 29:10-12).

Lord Jesus, help us to lament alongside Jeremiah, help us to trust in your character, to know your promises are faithful, help us to pray, to rebuild Lord! Lord Jesus, please restore our hearts, our minds, our souls, our moments. Oh Lord, “Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old” (Lamentations 5:21).