Prayers in Lockdown: Lamentations 1
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Lamentations 1
- 2 or 3 lines to express what you are experiencing today.
- One of the verses as a springboard to express our circumstances to the Lord. Don’t be afraid to let these “hang” as laments
- they don’t need to be tidied up with requests.
How deserted lies the city,
once so full of people!
v.4
The roads to Zion mourn,
for no one comes to her appointed festivals.
All her gateways are desolate,
her priests groan,
her young women grieve ...
v.7
In the days of her affliction and wandering,
Jerusalem remembers all the treasures
that were hers in days of old.
v.16
No one is near to comfort me,
no one to restore my spirit.
My children are destitute.
◘ Empty streets
◘ Isolated (alone & in distress)
◘ Children 'into exile' / 'have no future' (NLT) - cut off from normal social structures
◘ Families separated: both blood relations & church family
v.5
The Lord has brought her grief
because of her many sins.
- - A problematic verse? This is not a specific act, a specific sin ... Not just the situation we're in presently but also sin as exists in this world: a world of suffering, sickness, grief & death. #fact: We are all suffering as a result of sin; "repeated rebellions" v.5 MSG
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v.18 The Lord is righteous.
... MSG "God has right on his side. I'm the one who did wrong."
◘ First chapter of Lamentations : also viewed as a window into Jesus' suffering on earth; at Gethsemane & Calvary.
. . . . .
- What’s your experience of praying like this? Does it come naturally?
Are there aspects of it which you found helpful? Difficult? Liberating? Unsettling? Or something else?
“Grief itself, by its very nature, is a rather formless thing. The mind of a person in deep sorrow characteristically moves in circles, returning again and again to the source of the grief, unable to leave it and unable to resolve it. What the acrostic form does is to allow the grief to be fully expressed, and yet at the same time sets limits to it. These poems explore grief in its many and varied aspects, viewing it first from one perspective, then from another and yet another. The whole gamut of human sorrow is explored; the A to Z of sorrow. And yet, by that same acrostic pattern, the grief is shaped and led to a conclusion, a point of completeness, where everything necessary has been said, at least for the time being, and the mourner can fall silent without feeling he has been stifled.” ~ Barry G. Webb
Lamentations 1
- 2 or 3 lines to express what you are experiencing today.
- One of the verses as a springboard to express our circumstances to the Lord. Don’t be afraid to let these “hang” as laments
- they don’t need to be tidied up with requests.
How deserted lies the city,
once so full of people!
v.4
The roads to Zion mourn,
for no one comes to her appointed festivals.
All her gateways are desolate,
her priests groan,
her young women grieve ...
v.7
In the days of her affliction and wandering,
Jerusalem remembers all the treasures
that were hers in days of old.
v.16
No one is near to comfort me,
no one to restore my spirit.
My children are destitute.
◘ Empty streets
◘ Isolated (alone & in distress)
◘ Children 'into exile' / 'have no future' (NLT) - cut off from normal social structures
◘ Families separated: both blood relations & church family
v.5
The Lord has brought her grief
because of her many sins.
- - A problematic verse? This is not a specific act, a specific sin ... Not just the situation we're in presently but also sin as exists in this world: a world of suffering, sickness, grief & death. #fact: We are all suffering as a result of sin; "repeated rebellions" v.5 MSG
(
(
(
v.18 The Lord is righteous.
... MSG "God has right on his side. I'm the one who did wrong."
◘ First chapter of Lamentations : also viewed as a window into Jesus' suffering on earth; at Gethsemane & Calvary.
. . . . .
- What’s your experience of praying like this? Does it come naturally?
Are there aspects of it which you found helpful? Difficult? Liberating? Unsettling? Or something else?
“Grief itself, by its very nature, is a rather formless thing. The mind of a person in deep sorrow characteristically moves in circles, returning again and again to the source of the grief, unable to leave it and unable to resolve it. What the acrostic form does is to allow the grief to be fully expressed, and yet at the same time sets limits to it. These poems explore grief in its many and varied aspects, viewing it first from one perspective, then from another and yet another. The whole gamut of human sorrow is explored; the A to Z of sorrow. And yet, by that same acrostic pattern, the grief is shaped and led to a conclusion, a point of completeness, where everything necessary has been said, at least for the time being, and the mourner can fall silent without feeling he has been stifled.” ~ Barry G. Webb