Lamentations 5:1-22

Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us; look, and see our reproach! Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to aliens. We have become orphans without a father, our mothers are like widows. We have to pay for our drinking water, our wood comes to us at a price. Our pursuers are at our necks; we are worn out, there is no rest for us. We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread. Our fathers sinned, and are no more; it is we who have borne their iniquities. Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hand. We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness. Our skin has become as hot as an oven, because of the burning heat of famine. They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah. Princes were hung by their hands; elders were not respected. Young men worked at the grinding mill, and youths stumbled under loads of wood. Elders are gone from the gate, young men from their music. The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned into mourning. The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned! Because of this our heart is faint, because of these things our eyes are dim; because of Mount Zion which lies desolate, foxes prowl in it. You, O Lord, rule forever; Your throne is from generation to generation. Why do You forget us forever? Why do You forsake us so long? Restore us to You, O Lord, that we may be restored; renew our days as of old, unless You have utterly rejected us and are exceedingly angry with us.^[1] 

“Why do You forget us forever? Why do You forsake us so long?” Such is the cry common to many believers as they have encountered prolonged trouble. Rather than accepting the responsibility for our suffering we transfer any sense of it to God. Instead of making confession for the wrong we have done, we blame God and openly wonder why He remains silent. Our conclusion is that He must surely have forgotten us, our condition and our circumstances. We surmise that our suffering has come as a result of having been forsaken. The truth of the matter is that God has neither forgotten nor forsaken His people even though there are times in our lives when it feels like He has.

The writer of Lamentations concludes this lament, and the book of Lamentations itself, by first acknowledging that Judah is in turmoil because of the sin of the people, and then by imploring the Lord to restore the people to Himself. Not much in human nature has changed even though the times have changed. Our society is sinking increasingly into a pit of degradation and we do little or nothing about it. Our alienation may appear to be the handiwork of God but it is really the consequence of our defection. God has not forgotten about us; we have forgotten about God. But all is not lost! Our cry today is as it should be, “Restore us to You, O Lord, that we may be restored; renew our days as of old, unless You have utterly rejected us and are exceedingly angry with us.”

There are times, Lord, when we feel so inadequate in our prayer life. There is so much in that we would like to talk about with You, but other things have taken higher priority. We are suffering in so many ways and are frightened because we sense of greater darkness coming. It seems at times that You have forgotten about or that You no longer care and we have begun to lose hope. Help us, O Lord! Restore us to Yourself and renew our days as of old. Amen.

^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), La 5:1–22.