Lamentations 2:1

Lamentations 2:1 says, How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!   Jeremiah said that God was the One Who had covered the people of Israel with His anger.  God was angry at the sin of the people of Israel.  We need to realize that God will always hate sin and that He has provided a way to escape the power of sin, so if someone feels the wrath of God it is their own rebellion that is responsible.  Verse two adds, The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.  God brought down the kingdom of Israel,  no matter what country may have defeated it.  As long as we are under God's protection, we will not be defeated, but if we give in to sin and idolatry it will be God Who defeats or punishes us.  Verse three continues, He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round.  Though God is a God of love, He also is a God Who judges and punishes sin, and Judah and Israel, God's chosen people, had turned their backs on Him.  Therefore, they suffered His punishment for their sins.  Verse four states, He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.  God had brought good things to those who were supposed to be His people, but since they refused to obey Him, they now were feeling His punishment.   We need to realize that God does not just overlook sin.  Verse five adds, The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.  God was an enemy of Israel because Israel had started to worship idols and deny His word.  If we, who call ourselves followers of Christ, begin to worship idols, which can be anything placed before God, then we should not be surprised that God will be angry with us.  Verse six continues, And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.  God had done away with all the places associated with worship of Him, since they had been polluted, and had also done away with the king and priests who were supposed to represent Him.  Verse seven says, The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.  The people of Israel and Judah had believed that as long as 5hey went through to motions of worshipping God that He would have to accept what they did as worship, but He destroyed their houses of worship.   We need to make sure that what we do today in the name of worshipping God is accountable in His eyes.  Verse eight adds, The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.  Matthew Henry says that this means that God set a limit on His punishment.  Not all of the people of Israel and Judah were destroyed, because there was a remnant that still believed in and followed God.  We as followers of Christ need to be a part of that remnant no matter what happens in the world.   Verse nine continues, Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.  The people of Israel and Judah were now captives of the gentiles and their cities were destroyed.   As followers of Christ, we must be obedient to Him if we are not to suffer defeat from the powers of the world.