Waters Over My Head Lamentations 3:54

Jeremiah spoke the truth to the kings and people of Jerusalem and Judah when he told them they would be overtaken by the Babylonians. For this speaking he was put into a dungeon, and we study Jeremiah's word concerning that time we have noticed his anguish of heart. In chapter three and verse fifty-four of Lamentations Jeremiah once again speaks emblematically concerning his conditions. He wrote:

Waters flowed over my head; then I said, I am cut off.

The verse begins, “Waters flowed over my head;” Jeremiah employs the example of “waters” flowing overhead to describe how he feels. This was not literal water as there was no water in the dungeon as we see in the book of Jeremiah in chapter thirty-eight and verse six:

Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.

He uses this phrase to share how he was overwhelmed by his condition. We might use the phrase, “The world is over me” or “I feel like I have the world on my shoulders”.

The verse goes on to say, “then I said, I am cut off.” After describing his feelings of being overwhelmed, Jeremiah made the assessment that he was “cut off” which means “to cut, divide, cut down, cut in two, or snatch”. The idea is “abandoned”. Jeremiah felt that he was abandoned by God as he dwelt in a dungeon and sunk in the mire.

Perhaps as we meditate upon these words we have felt like Jeremiah. We are or have been overwhelmed by our conditions, and we wonder if somehow God “cut off” and abandoned any relationship we have had with Him. Of this we can be certain, the Lord God Almighty would not have included these feelings of Jeremiah in the Bible if He abandoned us. No, rather, we may take confidence that just as surely as He included this portion of scripture, He is with us at all times. We may feel that He isn't, but He is there. Jesus' words to His disciples just before He left the earth were,

and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

This idea was repeated by the writer of Hebrews in chapter thirteen and verse five:

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.

If we feel like the whole world is over our heads and that God has cut us off, we should know that the waters that flow overhead will never prevent fellowship with the God who is above and beneath them.

Next time we see what Jeremiah did when he was in the dungeon, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

 

Until tomorrow...there is more...

 

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