Lamentations 5:1 says, Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. Jeremiah called on God to remember what was happening to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. We really don't have to ask God to be aware of what is happening in our lives individually or as a nation collectively, because He is always aware. Verse two adds, Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. People of other nations had taken over their land. Still, this was because of their disobedience, and if we are defeated spiritually today it will be because of our disobedience to God. Even though our salvation is everlasting, we may still at times allow sin back into our lives. Verse three continues, We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows, When they rejected the heavenly Father, they were as orphans and Fatherless. Verse four states, We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. Even water was not free when they were under the authority of other nations. We should never forget that all our blessings come from God. If we turn away from Him, the we will find ourselves in need spiritually of the living water, which cannot be bought, but is given freely. God had given His people a land flowing with milk and honey, and after they rejected Him, they didn't even have water to drink freely. Verse five adds, Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest. They were continually working under oppression instead of working for their own benefit and God's glory. Verse six continues, We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. Jeremiah said that the people of Judah, and Israel as well, had placed themselves under the authority of the Egyptians and Assyrians for protection. They had quit looking to God for protection and thought they could find it under other nations, but it did not work. We will never find protection anywhere but in God. Verse seven says, Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities. Jeremiah said that the fathers of the people had sinned and that they had borne their iniquities. Even though their fathers may have sinned and been responsible for the people being enslaved, unless the current generation returned to God, the responsibility was theirs as well. Every individual is responsible for his or her own sins. Verse eight adds, Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. Those who had been their servants were now in a position of power over them. It was not just the rulers of the Chaldeans that had power over the people of Judah, but the servants of the Chaldeans did as well. Verse nine continues, We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness. Jeremiah said even getting bread, one of the most basic of needs, was dangerous. There is no real safety in the world outside of the protection of God. Verse ten states, Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. Famine had left their skin dry and parched, probably because of their being out scrounging for food. Verse eleven adds, They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah. The men could not protect their wives and daughters from being ravaged and abused. This was possible one of the hardest things to bear. Death is not always the worst fate, unless we die without putting our faith in Jesus Christ.
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