Yet I Call This To Mind

Lamentations 1-5

ז Zayin

Remember my affliction and my homelessness,
the wormwood and the poison.
I continually remember them
and have become depressed.
Yet I call this to mind,
and therefore I have hope:

ח Chet

Because of the Lord’s faithful love
we do not perish,
for his mercies never end.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness!
I say, “The Lord is my portion,
therefore I will put my hope in him.”

ט Teth

The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the person who seeks him.
It is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord.
It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is still young.

י Yod

Let him sit alone and be silent,
for God has disciplined him.
Let him put his mouth in the dust—
perhaps there is still hope.
Let him offer his cheek
to the one who would strike him;
let him be filled with disgrace.

כ Kaf

For the Lord
will not reject us forever.
Even if he causes suffering,
he will show compassion
according to the abundance of his faithful love.
For he does not enjoy bringing affliction
or suffering on mankind.
Lamentations 3:19-23

Over the past several weeks, I have finished up 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, as well as Jeremiah, and I’ve been sitting in chapter 3 of Lamentations for a couple days now. In recent weeks we have been walking through some confusion and hurts that have been caused by the elders in our church, things that could potentially lead us to remove ourselves from under their authority and leadership as elders and seek another local body to join. It has been very difficult as we have prayerfully processed everything that is going on with our church, on top of other circumstances in our lives, and I have been feeling emotionally depleted. So when I came to these verses penned at the hand of the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, I found comfort and encouragement. Jeremiah was beaten, imprisoned, mocked, and thrown into a cistern at the hands of those who were “God’s people”, and while our situation is nothing like his, I can relate to being hurt by people who you would think “should know better”, or who at the very least know how they are called to behave. Unfortunately, hurt and brokenness are just a part of living in a world that has been infected by sin, but when fellow believers are the ones dealing the blows, it seems to sting just a little bit more.

But, this entry isn’t about dwelling on those things. Instead, I want to ellaborate on the encouragement and the beauty of God’s Word! Lamentations is written as an acrostic poem, so each set of verses begins with a Hebrew letter. Each chapter of Lamentations begins with aleph and ends with tav. For chapter 3, I am only reflecting on the sections for the letters zayin through kaf.

ז Zayin (Verses 19-21)

This section of verses begins with Jeremiah remembering his affliction and suffering, recalling them so much that he has become depressed. The Hebrew word for “remember” is zakar (זָכַר). I went into more detail about this word several years ago, but here’s a brief description of the letters in this word:

The word zakar begins with the zayin (זָ) depicts a sword, but it is also associated with the idea of raising something up. The kaf (כַ) is a picture of a hand and is associated with works and actions. The resh (ר) is a picture of the back of a head, and is associated with the mind and thoughts. 

When we remember, we raise things (works, actions, feelings, etc) to our mind. In the begining of this section of verses, Jeremiah is remembering his suffering and affliction which leads to hopelessness and depression. Then suddenly, he changes course and says “YET, I call this to mind, and THEREFORE, I have hope.” We know from the verses that follow that he is about to recall the goodness and faithfulness of God. Isn’t it amazing how remembering his past and present affliction brought only despair, but shifting his thoughts to God changed his perspective to one that is full of hope?!? Wow, I feel like I could just ramble on about this one point, but verses that came immediately to mind were this:

“For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
2 Corinthians 10:3-5

“In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God.”
Ephesians 6:16-17

“For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Hebrews 4:12

How interesting too, that the zayin represents a sword, and that the best way to go to war in the battlefield of our hearts and minds is with the Sword of the Spirit!

ח Chet (Verses 22-24)

The following is an excerpt from another previous post about the letter chet:

The chet is a symbol of a wall or fence and signifies separation. It is also associated with a Jewish wedding canopy, a chupa, as well as life, chayim. When we accept the free gift of salvation, we are entering into a blood covenant with Christ. We are His Bride and He is our Bridegroom. He calls us out, desires for us to be devoted to Him and separate ourselves from the world. He promises us life – not only new life in Christ, but also eternal life! The numeric value of chet is 8. Eight is the number that represents eternity, new life and new beginnings. Christ’s blood frees us from the bondage of our sin and delivers us into new life and the promise of eternity with Him!

This section of verses all begin with the letter chet (ח), and the very first word is checed (חֵסֵד), the Hebrew word for lovingkindness and mercy. We also see the word racham (רַחַם), the word for compassion. God’s lovingkindness, mercy, and compassion will have no impact on us if we cannot fully grasp how great a gift comes out of them. Salvation is no little thing – it is everything! Therefore we can have great hope because the promises we have attained far outweight any suffering we experience here on earth!

The next line begins with the word “new”, chadash (חָדָשׁ), which can also mean renew, which brought to mind Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

The last line in this section begins with the word “portion”, cheleq (חֵלֶק). This word also can mean inheritance or reward. Spurgeon comments on this verse and says, “Whatever we have lost, we have not lost our God.”

All these thoughts together remind me of Peter’s words in 1 Peter 1: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

ט Teth

The next section of verses begin with the letter teth (ט), and in fact, each line begins with the word “good”, tov (טוֹב). This word properly translated, would mean not only beneficial, but also pleasing, and functioning properly. We see in this section that God Himself is good to the person who is patiently seeking Him and waiting for Him. We see that the act of waiting for the LORD is itself good. And we also see that it is even good for a person to bear the yoke of a heavy a burden. Spurgeon again had some great commentary on this section:

“Even though it is out of the depths of the utmost distress that we seek God, we will find Him to be good to us. ‘To those who wait on Him…” We must not be in a hurry. We should not expect to be delivered out of our trouble the first time we begin to cry out to God. God’s time is always the best time. To deliver us just now might be to deprive us of the benefit of the trouble. We must bear it until it produces the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

This idea reminded me of two passages:

“We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.”
Romans 8:28-30

“Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness. No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
Hebrews 12:7-11

When we view discipline not as an act of punishment, but instead as an act of correction from a good Father, we can endure it with a trusting heart that sees it as being for our ultimate good.

י Yod

The lessons from the teth section lead well into the section begining with the letter yod (י). Each line begins with the phrase “let him”. I liked how the AMPC worded these verses:

Let him sit alone uncomplaining and keeping silent [in hope], because [God] has laid [the yoke] upon him [for his benefit].

Let him put his mouth in the dust [in abject recognition of his unworthiness]—there may yet be hope.

Let him give his cheek to the One Who smites him [even through His human agents]; let him be filled [full] with [men’s] reproach [in meekness].

Each of the actions that follows is an act of humility. I think about the yod being the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet, it too is a humble, meek letter. Jesus humbled Himself in order to endure suffering for our sake. If He is to be our example, we too can humbly endure suffering. I think of the words of John the Baptist, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

כ Kaf

The final section of verses that I am diving into begin with the letter kaf (כ). This letter represents a hand, but not simply a hand, but a hand at work. The kaf became one of my favorite letters back when I first began studying the Hebrew alphabet several years ago. There’s so much richness in this letter, but for the purpose of this study, I see God’s sovereign working hand in the lives of His people. Yes, there may at times be circumstances and trials that, from our finite perspective, can seem subjectively and even objectively “bad”; however, in the midst of God allowing, even bringing about suffering and affliction, He remains good, compassionate, and abounding in faithful love. It reminds me of the saying, “When you cannot see God’s hand, trust His heart.” Everything God does, everything God allows, is for our good and His glory.

LORD, thank You for these verses in a book of lamenting, that brough comfort and perspective to my situtaion. Thank You that You are a good, loving, merciful God, who acts out of holy, righteous, lovingkindness. Help me to trust You more, and to follow where You lead – whether mountains high or valleys low. AMEN!