The book of Lamentations was written by Jeremiah during or after Judah and Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians. God had allowed this because Judah had disobeyed Him and had turned to idol worship. They had completely ignored God and had become as sinful as the pagan nations around them. Jeremiah refers to Jerusalem as if she were a woman crying out because she had lost everything, and there was no one who cared or who would help. Jeremiah says she has become unclean. Following is a few verses that express Jerusalem’s lament.
“Look, Lord, and consider, for I am despised...The Lord is Righteous, yet I rebelled against his command...See, Lord, how distressed I am! I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed, for I have been most rebellious...My groans are many, and my heart is faint.”
I believe there are many people whose lives are tormented, disturbed, and are weak because of unconfessed sin. They have rebelled against God, they feel despised by him, and perhaps by their friends. Their groans are many. These people are never satisfied and never happy. They have conflict after conflict with family and friends. Unfortunately, much of the time they do not handle their troubles as they should.
Very often the way we try to handle our sin, our conflicts, is to lash out at others. In our attempt to get back at those whom we think are responsible for our pain we try to make them look bad and try to get people to feel sorry for us. That is wrong, wrong, wrong and, it doesn’t work! It only makes us look worse, and it will never solve the problem. When we do that we will not get any sympathy from others. We will only make ourselves look childish, and weak. Don’t broadcast your conflicts for the world to read. Nobody wants to hear that kind of childish garbage, and they really will not care.
When we are experiencing conflicting relations, even if we are not at fault, the best way to handle it is to first go privately to God. As Jeremiah explained, Jerusalem came before God and poured out her heart, confessing her sin, and telling him how she felt. If you read all of chapter one you will see that she knew that her past friends didn’t care, and she knew she would not get any help from anyone. God is the only one that we can truly depend on to help us.
The second thing we should do is to seek wise counsel. It’s fine to tell others that your heart is heavy, and you are hurting. Ask them to pray for you. You don’t have to give them all the gory details. If they are to be trusted, and if they care about you they will not need to hear the details. All you need from them is their prayers and their love.
The third thing to do is to forgive those who you think have hurt you. Most importantly, though, you should ask God to show you your sin. Ask him to forgive you, and then go to the person with whom you are having conflict and apologize, and ask them to forgive you. There is no reason for any of us to go through life at odds with a family member or a friend. We don’t have to live our lives constantly lamenting over broken relationships. If we seek God we will be able to find a solution to any problem.
Thank you so much for your words.
ReplyDeleteYou are certainly welcome.
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