Read
34Don't trample prisoners
under your feet
35or cheat anyone out of
what is rightfully theirs.
God Most High sees everything,
36and he knows when you refuse
to give someone a fair trial.
37No one can do anything
without the Lord's approval.
38Good and bad each happen
at the command
of God Most High.
39We're still alive!
We shouldn't complain
when we are being punished
for our sins.
40Instead, we should think
about the way we are living,
and turn back to the Lord.
41When we lift our hands
in prayer to God in heaven,
we should offer him our hearts
and say, 42“We've sinned!
We've rebelled against you,
and you haven't forgiven us!
43Anger is written all over you,
as you pursue and slaughter us
without showing pity.
44You are behind a wall of clouds
that blocks out our prayers.
45You allowed nations
to treat us like garbage;
46our enemies curse us.
47We are terrified and trapped,
caught and crushed.”
48My people are destroyed!
Tears flood my eyes,
49and they won't stop
50until the Lord looks down
from heaven and helps.
51I am horrified when I see
what enemies have done
to the young women of our city.
52No one had reason to hate me,
but I was hunted down
like a bird.
53Then they tried to kill me
by tossing me into a pit
and throwing stones at me.
54Water covered my head—
I thought I was gone.
55From the bottom of the pit,
I prayed to you, Lord.
56I begged you to listen.
“Help!” I shouted. “Save me!”
You answered my prayer
57and came when I was in need.
You told me, “Don't worry!”
58You rescued me
and saved my life.
59You saw them abuse me, Lord,
so make things right.
60You know every plot
they have made against me.
61Yes, you know their insults
and their evil plans.
62All day long they attack
with words and whispers.
63No matter what they are doing,
they keep on mocking me.
64Pay them back for everything
they have done, Lord!
65Put your curse on them
and make them suffer.
66Get angry and go after them
until not a trace is left
under the heavens.
Reflect
The high notes of yesterday are not quite maintained. A recital of injustice, desperate pleas to God and a cry for vengeance are more prominent. Evil and pain are all-pervasive and cannot be ignored; they act as a constant challenge to faith, and anyone who pretends otherwise has not plumbed the depths of human agony or faced the questions that it raises. The refusal to take personal vengeance and the determination to leave things in God’s hands (v 64) sounds like the new covenant (Rom 12:19; Luke 23:34) and reminds us that the ultimate solution to the problems can only be found in God.
We do not have complete answers but if, in some sense at least, we are to see pointers to Christ in this chapter it reminds us that God is, in Christ, entering our pain. Christ is the ultimate ‘forsaken one’: his struggles in Gethsemane (Mark 14:32–38) and his separation from the Father (Mark 15:34) must surely lie beyond human comprehension, but they are the assurance that he stands with us in all our pain, humiliation and questioning. Sin and the suffering it causes are an alien intrusion into the world; part of our reality, but not part of God’s intention.
The sufferer here, and the Jerusalem he seeks to comfort, do not yet have the insight afforded by the cross, but he can see that hope lies in entrusting his, and Jerusalem’s, cause to God, returning to him and acknowledging sin (v 40). The Hebrew word for return here is often translated repent; the basis of repentance is coming back to God.
Lamentations, written at the start of the Exile, is not the last word: Judah has yet to appropriate the word of Isaiah 40; there is comfort, sin has been paid for and a road for return is being prepared. For us that can only ultimately be true in Christ.
Respond
Father, we acknowledge that we too have done things that grieve you. We have also failed to do things that you wanted us to do. Thank you for Jesus Christ, who does forgive us. Amen.
First used in Encounter with God April-June 2015, written by John Grayston, copyright Scripture Union. Used with kind permission.
John Grayston
John is now retired after 37 years on the Scripture Union England and Wales staff, but still writes, teaches and preaches. He has two children and seven grandchildren and his hobbies are skiing, hill-walking, photography and gardening.