Friday, May 30, 2014

Affliction, Misery, Wormwood and Gall Lamentations 3:19

As we continue to study the reaction and emotions of Jeremiah as he overlooked the devastated city of Jerusalem, we have come to a new paragraph in chapter three where Jeremiah begins to remember his overwhelming circumstances. We begin in verse nineteen where we read:

Remembering my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

The verse begins, “Remembering my affliction and my misery,...” Four states of mind are mentioned in this very short verse of which the first two are “affliction” which means “poverty or misery” and “misery” which means “restlessness, straying, wanderer, or refugee”. Jeremiah began to remember how miserable he was and how his situation made him restless and as though he were a stranger without purpose. If he were asked “what is it that you own now Jeremiah?” His answer would be, “nothing but a miserable state and the belongings of a refugee”.

The verse goes on to say, “the wormwood and the gall.” In addition to “affliction and misery” Jeremiah adds “the wormwood” which is a metaphor for bitterness and “the gall” which is “venom, bitter, or poisonous” and is sometimes translated “hemlock”. Jeremiah's circumstances have him remembering his bitter state, and his life was lived as though it were poisoned.

Have we ever been in a state where it felt as though affliction and misery were the sum total of our existence? Have we lived in a manner that feels restless like a refugee or like our days are poisoned? We might suppose there are periods in our lives where nothing but adversity has stricken us and some of those times last longer than others. Sometimes afflictions come as the Lord tries and refines us as mentioned in chapter forty-eight and verse ten of the book of Isaiah where we read:

Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.

In these times we can rely upon the word of God who will never allow them without a purpose, and He remembers us within them. As the Psalmist said in chapter one hundred and nineteen and verse seventy-one:

It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn your statutes.

When circumstances dictate “affliction, misery, wormwood, and gall” we can know without a shadow of a doubt that God Almighty is overseeing and teaching us to have closer fellowship with Him.

Next time we learn how these things affected Jeremiah's soul, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
 
Until tomorrow...there is more...
 
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