Prayer For Restoration

INTRO

After the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, our study turned to the book of Lamentations. Most scholars believe the prophet Jeremiah wrote Lamentations. Next, we’ll move to the book of Ezekiel. All these prophets offered a message of hope. The Lord was everything that Israel and Judah needed, but they didn’t hold on to His portion. Everyday His mercies were poured out fresh, yet they couldn’t see them.

Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern that was intended to be used as a holding vessel because the people didn’t want to hear his message of the coming destruction of Jerusalem. Life was not good for him. Yet Jeremiah (and the other prophets) understood that their portion and mercies only came from God, not from themselves. They waited and hoped that God would pour out His mercies. Waiting and trusting on the Lord was required. No one knew when God would restore His portion to the people of Israel and Judah, but the knowledge that God would get Jeremiah out of the cistern somehow was always there.

The process of waiting involved constant praying and crying out to the Lord. Lamentations 5 was a cry for revival, renewal, and attention. It was a cry for God to show up. Constable explains that in chapter 5, “Verses 2 through 18 contain a list of complaints. Petitions in verses 1 and 21–22 frame this section, and so make it clear that the purpose of the list is to attract the Lord’s interest so that He will act.”¹

Lamentation is defined as loud cries. It was all right for Jeremiah to pour out his dismay to the Lord. Even as his laments were articulated, Jeremiah knew God would continue to pour out His mercies.

TEACHING

Lamentations 5:1-22: In chapter 4, Ryken points out that the cause of the people’s punishment was due in part to a failure of leadership. He wrote, “The prophets had sinned, leaving the people to starve for God’s word as well as food. The temple priests had shed innocent blood. Thus, they had to bear the humiliation of God’s wrath: The king, too, had failed to provide godly leadership. He had established unholy alliances with godless nations like Egypt, and the help he promised never came.”²

The first 18 verses are a cry for attention. MacKay explains, “The book was not written in the first instance to serve as a warning for others, or for that matter as a means of keeping alive the memory of past suffering and disaster in the collective consciousness of the community. Clearly at one level these poems are a tribute to the past in that they recall all that Jerusalem had once been, and act as a reminder of what had been lost in the harrowing tragedy of a protracted siege and its aftermath.”³

These verses were also a petition. Constable states, “Jeremiah called on Yahweh to remember the calamity that had befallen His people, and to consider the reproach in which they now lived (cf. 3:34–36). The humbled condition of the Judahites reflected poorly on the Lord because the pagans would have concluded that He was unable to keep His people strong and free. Jeremiah implied that if Yahweh remembered His people, He would act to deliver them (cf. Exodus 2:24–25; 3:7–8).”⁴

Jeremiah appealed to God, stating that the disgrace of and on the people was a reflection on God. Their disgrace would have been God’s disgrace. If God remembered His people, Jeremiah lamented, He would deliver them. The question Jeremiah raised was whether or not the Jews brought this on themselves. They now had to pay for the commodities they received, including the water they drank. They were pursued and had no opportunity for rest. But the Promised Land was supposed to be a place of rest. They were either in captivity where they had no rest, or they were in their own land and had no rest. That was not how God had planned things. God was the one who offered rest.

The root cause of the consequences the Jews found themselves in was because of their sin. MacArthur states, “The Jews sinfully submitted to unholy alliances, thus expressing trust in men for protection and goods (cf. Jeremiah 2:18, 36).”⁵ “Even to get enough food to live, the people had to appeal to Egypt and Assyria for help. This may refer to Judah’s earlier alliances with these nations that proved futile (cf. Ezekiel 16:26–28; 23:12, 21). Or perhaps the writer used Assyria as a surrogate for Babylonia (cf. Jeremiah 2:18). The point is that Judah could no longer provide for herself but had to beg for help from her Gentile enemies.”⁶

Verse 7 states that the current generation had to bear the burden of the punishment of their parents. They also had the punishment for their own sins. They brought the consequences upon themselves. Food was so scarce they had to leave their current environment at the risk of attack by the Chaldeans. The consequences included economic and political persecution as well as personal humiliation and abuse. After death, men were hung up by their hands as a form of dishonor. The people were living like animals. Constable explains, “Young men had to grind grain like animals or servant women (cf. Judges 16:21), and small children buckled under the loads of firewood that the enemy forced them to carry.”⁷

In Lamentations 3 God was proclaimed as the hope of the people, but by Lamentations 5 there was no joy as a result of their sin. There was no joy or dancing because they had brought these circumstances on themselves. The crown had fallen. MacArthur writes, “The Davidic monarchy was temporarily over and will not be resumed until Christ comes as King (Jeremiah 23:5–8; Ezekiel 37:24–28; Revelation 19:1–21).”⁸ The crown is only truly established on the return of Christ.

The prayer of renewal was for God to restore them so the people could return. John MacKay stated, “The laments move from a plea for attention to finally the prayer for God to restore them.”⁹ Jeremiah still believed God was in control and could restore the people. The people needed God to restore them so they could return to their land.

CLOSING

Christ is the answer. Until Christ permanently returns, we will be going through this process. We ask God the question of why He is taking so long. Jeremiah prayed for restoration and renewal in Lamentations 5:21. Our nation was founded on the principles of God and our prayer should be for God to bring revival.