Do we see ourselves in God’s anger at Jerusalem? Let’s look at an acrostic poem in Lamentations 2.
Have we ever been shamed for our sins and cast down in dishonor because of them?
[Alef א] How the Lord in his wrath shamed cherished Zion! He cast down from heaven to earth the glory of Israel, He did not remember his footstool in the time of his anger.
[Bet ב] The Lord swallowed up without pity all of Jacob’s habitations. In his wrath he tore down the strongholds of fair Judah. He cast to the ground in dishonor both her kingdom and its rulers. (Lam 2:1-2 ISV)
Have we ever had enemies in life and it seemed like it was caused by our sins?
[Gimel ג] He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.
[Dalet ד] He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire. (Lam 2:3-4 KJV)
Have we ever slipped from faithfulness to God, or noticed that even our church has suffered the consequences of sin?
[He ה] The Lord has become like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all its palaces; He has brought its strongholds to ruin And multiplied in the daughter of Judah Mourning and moaning.
[Vav ו] And He has violently treated His tabernacle like a garden booth; He has brought His appointed meeting place to ruin. Yahweh has caused to be forgotten The appointed time and sabbath in Zion, And He has spurned king and priest In the indignation of His anger. (Lam 2:5-6 LSB)
Has God rejected our church because of unfaithfulness and handed its walls to the enemy?
[Zayin ז] The Lord has rejected His altar, He has repudiated His sanctuary; He has handed over The walls of her palaces to the enemy. They have made a noise in the house of the Lord As on the day of an appointed feast.
[Het ח] The Lord determined to destroy The wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out a line, He has not restrained His hand from destroying, And He has caused rampart and wall to mourn; They have languished together. (Lam 2:7-8 NASB)
Have we lost God’s vision in our lives, and forgotten the law of Christ?
[Tet ט] Her gates have sunk into the ground; their bars he has broken and destroyed. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and her prophets no longer find visions from the Lord.
[Yod י] The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have sprinkled dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. (Lam 2:9-10 NIV)
Do our eyes fail with tears, and are our hearts troubled because the spiritual food of the Gospel lacks in our churches?
[Kaf ך] My eyes fail with tears, My heart is troubled; My bile is poured on the ground Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the children and the infants Faint in the streets of the city.
[Lamed ל] They say to their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?” As they swoon like the wounded In the streets of the city, As their life is poured out In their mothers’ bosom. (Lam 2:11-12 NKJV)
Who can heal a church whose wound is so deep, because the preachers have said too many foolish things, and painted false pictures?
[Mem ם] What can I say about you? Who has ever seen such sorrow? O daughter of Jerusalem, to what can I compare your anguish? O virgin daughter of Zion, how can I comfort you? For your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?
[Nun נ] Your prophets have said so many foolish things, false to the core. They did not save you from exile by pointing out your sins. Instead, they painted false pictures, filling you with false hope. (Lam 2:13-14 NLT)
Do people mock our churches, not because they preach truth, but because the world has swallowed them up?
[Samekh ס] All that pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city that men called ‘The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth’?”
[Ayin ע] All your enemies have opened their mouth wide against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for. We have found it. We have seen it.” (Lam 2:15-16 WEB)
Has the enemy rejoiced over our churches, because he has conquered them?
[Pe פ] The Lord did what he had planned. He accomplished the word that he had commanded long ago. He ripped down, showing no compassion. He made the enemy rejoice over you; he raised up your adversaries’ horn.
[Tzadi צ] Cry out to my Lord from the heart, you wall of Daughter Zion; make your tears run down like a flood all day and night. Don’t relax at all; don’t rest your eyes a moment. (Lam 2:17-18 CEB)
Do we pray for God to rescue our churches from those who kill faithful preachers and murder our infants?
[Qof ק] Get up and pray for help all through the night. Pour out your feelings to the Lord, as you would pour water out of a jug. Beg him to save your people, who are starving to death at every street crossing.
[Resh ר] Think about it, Lord! Have you ever been this cruel to anyone before? Is it right for mothers to eat their children, or for priests and prophets to be killed in your temple? (Lam 2:19-20 CEV)
Are our churches to be left with the spiritually dead, while the world rejoices?
[Shin ש] 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.
[Tav ת] You summoned as if to a festival day my terrors on every side, and on the day of the anger of the Lord no one escaped or survived; those whom I held and raised my enemy destroyed. (Lam 2:21-22 ESV)
Did Jesus ever warn a church about the danger of being spiritually dead?
Write to the angel of the church in Sardis: “The One who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says: I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. (Rev 3:1 HCSB)
Do we see ourselves in God’s anger at Jerusalem? You decide!
