God's People Become His Enemies~Bob Caldwell

When God's People Become His Enemy 2:5 The Lord was like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel, He has swallowed up all her palaces; He has destroyed her strongholds, And has increased mourning and lamentation In the daughter of Judah. It is a horrible thought to find yourself treated by God as His enemy, especially one who, in former times, had been the object of God's pleasure and who He had abundantly prospered in His grace (v. 4-5). God's anger, wrath, and burning indignation are obviously something that we would not like to personally experience. Nor are these descriptions of God's anger something that many people believe God could ever be, if in fact He is a loving God. It raises the question if it is possible that love and anger can find compatibility in God. Consider a cancer that slowly and painfully destroys one you deeply love. Would it not be appropriate, even loving, to abhor the cancer that has so horribly hurt the object of your love? In fact, given the cancer example, it might seem fair to ask, "How can God really say He loves us, yet feel no aversion, no hatred, for the grotesque corruption sin has wrought within us?" To take it a step further, is it not logical that the source of sin's destructive force would also be abhorred? This seems clearly to be the case with how God saw Jerusalem during the time the book of Lamentations was written. The city that was to be a light upon a hill to Israel and the world had become an aggressive force for evil. The Temple that once held the glory of God had become a temple filled with idols. Pagan fertility cults had become commonplace in Jerusalem. They practiced the worship of the powers of fertility through sexual relations with cultic prostitutes. What Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, had become was something God had to hate if He in fact actually loved the people. Like many people today, Jerusalem had a false sense of security in their belief that God was obligated to bless them no matter how rebellious and evil they became. God's love, however, demanded that He rid them of their prideful delusion. Where God sees the destructive cancer of religious deception today He hates it. How could He love us and not hate what is designed to destroy us?
Lamentations 2:1-22 God's Anger with Jerusalem 1 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion With a cloud in His anger! He cast down from heaven to the earth The beauty of Israel, And did not remember His footstool In the day of His anger. 2 The Lord has swallowed up and has not pitied All the dwelling places of Jacob. He has thrown down in His wrath The strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down to the ground; He has profaned the kingdom and its princes. 3 He has cut off in fierce anger Every horn of Israel; He has drawn back His right hand From before the enemy. He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire Devouring all around. 4 Standing like an enemy, He has bent His bow; With His right hand, like an adversary, He has slain all who were pleasing to His eye; On the tent of the daughter of Zion, He has poured out His fury like fire. 5 The Lord was like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel, He has swallowed up all her palaces; He has destroyed her strongholds, And has increased mourning and lamentation In the daughter of Judah. 6 He has done violence to His tabernacle, As if it werea garden; He has destroyed His place of assembly; The LORD has caused The appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion. In His burning indignation He has spurned the king and the priest. 7 The Lord has spurned His altar, He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has given up the walls of her palaces Into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in the house of the LORD As on the day of a set feast. 8 The LORD has purposed to destroy The wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out a line; He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying; Therefore He has caused the rampart and wall to lament; They languished together. 9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; The Law is no more, And her prophets find no vision from the LORD. 10 The elders of the daughter of Zion Sit on the ground and keep silence; They throw dust on their heads And gird themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem Bow their heads to the ground. 11 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. 12 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. 13 How shall I console you? To what shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is spread wide as the sea; Who can heal you? 14 Your prophets have seen for you False and deceptive visions; They have not uncovered your iniquity, To bring back your captives, But have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions. 15 All who pass by clap their hands at you; They hiss and shake their heads At the daughter of Jerusalem: "Is this the city that is called ‘The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth'?" 16 All your enemies have opened their mouth against you; They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, "We have swallowed her up! Surely this is the day we have waited for; We have found it, we have seen it!" 17 The LORD has done what He purposed; He has fulfilled His word Which He commanded in days of old. He has thrown down and has not pitied, And He has caused an enemy to rejoice over you; He has exalted the horn of your adversaries. 18 Their heart cried out to the Lord, "O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief; Give your eyes no rest. 19 "Arise, cry out in the night, At the beginning of the watches; Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift your hands toward Him For the life of your young children, Who faint from hunger at the head of every street." 20 "See, O LORD, and consider! To whom have You done this? Should the women eat their offspring, The children they have cuddled? Should the priest and prophet be slain In the sanctuary of the Lord? 21 "Young and old lie On the ground in the streets; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword; You have slain them in the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered and not pitied. 22 "You have invited as to a feast day The terrors that surround me. In the day of the LORD's anger There was no refugee or survivor. Those whom I have borne and brought up My enemies have destroyed."
Lamentations 2:1-22 v. 1 and did not remember His footstool – The footstool is a reference to the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was symbolic for the presence of God among the people the Israel. v. 3 every horn of Israel – There are a few references to horns in this chapter (also v. 17). Horns symbolized strength and leadership. The horn in verse three is a metaphor for Israel's strength being cut off. v. 6 the appointed feasts and Sabbaths – The feasts were regular assemblies on designated days of the year. These feasts and Sabbaths were forgotten because there were no longer priests to guide the people in the way of God's law. v. 10 gird themselves with sackcloth – Sackcloth was made of goat's hair and was worn as a symbol of mourning. v. 15 all who pass by clap their hands at you – The Hebrew verb used for clap in this passage denotes a gesture of anger or derision. Those who passed by and clapped were scorning Israel. v. 17 He has exalted the horn of your adversaries – Exalting the horns is a metaphor for increasing the strength of Israel's enemies. v. 19 pour out your heart like water – This is a metaphor for an act of worship. v. 20 should the women eat their offspring – Cannibalism was a desperate last resort when starvation was imminent.
The Lord was like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel, He has swallowed up all her palaces; He has destroyed her strongholds, And has increased mourning and lamentation In the daughter of Judah. –Lamentations 2:5 Your words of warning speak to our hearts today, Lord. We know that You care for us and love us and seek to protect us. And we also know that You will discipline us as we need to be disciplined. Thank You, Lord, for teaching us where we go wrong. We pray for eyes open to see the coming destruction before it has to occur.
Prison and Jail Ministry I have not been a spiritual person but I've been getting in touch with God and this service is very important to me and my recovery. It means a lot to me to have one of the ladies from Calvary come out here and take time for all of us to come closer to God and our spiritual side. Prayer Points There to be fruit from the teaching on Sundays out at the SBWCC. That women will continue to seek Jesus in and out of prison. For doors to remain open and for Bible studies to continue at these facilities.