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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Lamentations 3:19 - 3:39
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God's Mercy and Power Revealed
v. 19. Remembering, or, "Remember," mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall, the sufferings about which he has just complained so bitterly.
v. 20. My soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me, still bowed down, as under a heavy weight.
v. 21. This, namely, the fact that his soul is deeply afflicted by the mere remembrance of his sufferings, I recall to my mind, taking it to heart, therefore have I hope. Throwing off the feeling of despair which threatened him, he thinks of the fact that God alone can help him, and upon this fact he places his hope. A consideration of the boundless mercy of the Lord strengthens his hope.
v. 22. It is of the Lord's mercies, on account of the fact that He delights in making known His fatherly kindness and grace toward us, that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not, they have no end.
v. 23. They are new every morning, namely, the evidences of His love and mercy; great is Thy faithfulness, the outflow of His compassionate love in fulfilling His promises. These wonderful facts the sacred writer now applies to himself.
v. 24. The Lord is my Portion, saith my soul, Cf Psa_16:5; Psa_73:26; Psa_142:6; therefore will I hope in Him, resting his trust in Him in the certainty of faith.
v. 25. The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, in this steadfast trust, to the soul that seeketh Him, looking to Him alone for help and deliverance. The thoughts of Jehovah are always good and kind, even when He causes pain. Though man be in trouble, he should yet perceive the goodness of the Lord, so that he cannot defiantly murmur or faint-heartedly despair.
v. 26. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord, in the calm certainty that He will send His deliverance in due time. It is a wonderful achievement to be humbly patient and quiet under all circumstances, no matter what tribulations may come, ever resting in the will of God.
v. 27. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth, so that the disciplinary value of various sufferings may have an opportunity to work patience in his heart and enable him to bear the burdens of age with greater fortitude and trust in the Lord. He who has learned to take up his cross in patient resignation while he was still young will have no trouble in exercising the proper submissiveness when he is old.
v. 28. He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, practicing patience in a solitude which enables him to value the divine chastisements, because He hath borne it upon him, because and when Jehovah has laid the burden upon him.
v. 29. He putteth his mouth in the dust, in the position of most humble submission, restraining himself from murmuring, if so be there may be hope, or, "perhaps there is still hope," namely, that God will have compassion and withdraw His chastening Land.
v. 30. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him, submitting even to injustice if it serves the cause of the Lord, Cf Mat_5:39; he is filled full with reproach, enduring also the scorn which men heap upon him for his trust in God. Note the climax beginning with the easiest matter and ending with the most difficult, the patient bearing of insults, if it serves the glory of the Lord.
v. 31. For the Lord will not cast off forever, Cf Psa_77:8;
v. 32. ; but though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies, so that His grace and love outweigh the burden of even the severest affliction.
v. 33. For He doth not afflict willingly, literally, "from His heart," nor grieve the children of men. It is not because the Lord takes a vindictive delight in punishing men that He lays afflictions upon them, but because His chastisement is necessary for sinful men, for the furtherance of their soul's salvation. Cf Heb_12:5.
v. 34. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, as in the cruel treatment accorded the Jews by the Chaldeans,
v. 35. to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High, as when a judge perverts justice before the very eyes of God, who sees and hears it all,
v. 36. to subvert in his cause, so that justice cannot be done, the Lord approveth not, He very decidedly does not favor such injustice. The thoughts naturally arise at this point whether the Lord, then, has nothing to do with all such happenings.
v. 37. Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? There is nothing happening on the earth which is not in accordance with the Lord's intention or not happening with His permission. While no one may injure his neighbor with the approbation of the Lord, yet the injury he does serves the purposes of God's providential chastisement of transgressors.
v. 38. Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good? so that the one as well as the other is done by His command or permission.
v. 39. Wherefore doth a living man complain? with sighs and groans over his afflictions, a man for the punishment of his sins? That is, to rectify the evil in the world, let each one lament over his sins. It is only by daily contrition and repentance that we make any headway in combating the evils of this present world. If we grow weary of this lifelong battle, acts of wickedness are bound to multiply.