As we have shared
previously, most of the book of Lamentations is an acrostic which
begin with each succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The third
chapter employs three verses for each letter, and verses thirty-four
through thirty-six correspond to the Hebrew letter “lamed”. These
three verses continue to describe the Lord's actions among men, and
in verse thirty-four we read:
To crush under his feet
all the prisoners of the earth,
The
verse begins, “To crush under his feet...” The idea
conveyed by the word “crush” is to be made “contrite,
broken, or shattered”. One who would “crush” another
under his feet would take advantage of their difficult circumstances.
It is like kicking someone when they are already down.
The
verse continues, “...all the prisoners of the earth,” Jeremiah
then identifies of whom this one is crushing, “all the
prisoners” which are the “captive or bondmen” who are “of
the earth”. Those who were made captives by the nation of
Babylon because of their rebellion against the Lord would not
experience the Lord's crushing, and as we read ahead to verse
thirty-six we discover that “the Lord approves not” of
this. Though the Lord allowed the people of Jerusalem and Judah to be
captured and made as prisoners He does not delight in crushing them
in their demise.
There
are times in our lives where it may seem that all the world is
against us, and if we are not careful, we might even assess that God
Himself is our foe. God does not delight in crushing us, especially
when we are down. He longs to have a relationship with everyone even
as He did with Jerusalem, but often people refuse His longing.
Perhaps we are feeling trapped, captive, and as a bondman in this
world and should be reminded of Jesus' words in the gospel of Luke in
chapter four and verses eighteen and nineteen:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are
bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
May the
Lord ever deliver us from all that imprisons us as we continue to
serve Him.
Next
time we see what the Lord does with the right of a man, 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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