After
making his appeal for the “wall of the daughter of Zion”
to “let tears run down like a river day and night” we
might wonder how Jeremiah could express the grief of the people in
Jerusalem any greater. However, in chapter two and verse nineteen, he
adds more to his beckoning description. We read:
Arise, cry out in the
night: in the beginning of the watches pour out your heart like water
before the face of the Lord: lift up your hands toward him for the
life of your young children, that faint for hunger in the top of
every street.
The
verse begins, “Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of
the watches pour out your heart like water before the face of the
Lord:” Jeremiah continued his personification of the wall of
Jerusalem which represented safety and comfort for the people of
Jerusalem. He imagines the wall during the “night” when
“the watches” or guards would oversee the city against warn
against enemies or predators. He exhorts them to “cry out in the
night” and “pour out your heart like water” in the
Lord's presence. Such mourning of soul and spirit would only begin to
express the sorrow of the people who remained in the city.
The
verse continues, “lift up your hands toward him for the life of
your young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every
street.” In addition to crying out, Jeremiah prods the walls to
“lift up” their “hands” as if in an act of
surrender and appeal “for the life of” their “young
children”. We can only begin to imagine what horror it must
have been for Jeremiah to look upon these young children as they
“faint for hunger in the top of every street”. Jeremiah
seemingly can do nothing about these poor starving children except to
exhort the walls of Jerusalem to surrender and reach out toward the
Lord for pity.
There
are times in our lives where the best action we can take is to “pour
out our hearts like water before the face of the Lord” and
“lift up our hands toward him”. Let's face it, there are
some situations for which we have no answers. There are difficulties
that are beyond our capacity to handle, and the encouragement of
Jeremiah to the walls of Jerusalem can be inspiration for us. As we
ponder the personification of these walls, perhaps we too should do
nothing more than pour out our hearts to the Lord, lift up our hands
in reaching out and worship, and make our appeal to Him to rescue us
in our plights. The amazing part of God is that He will hear us, and
He is able to deliver us from any situation we face no matter how
large or small it may be.
Next
time we see one of the most horrific parts to the devastation to
Jerusalem, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ;
www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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