"Commentary on the Book of .....

...... Lamentations 1:12-18.

"God had given special care to Jerusalem, like a father protecting his daughter. But her sins had been persistent, and her punishment was horrible. Jeremiah's sorrow and weeping over the judgment of Jerusalem expresses the sorrow of the nation.

"At first, sin seems to offer freedom. The we become captive to sin, bound by its 'yoke.' When we suffer the consequences of sin, repentance is the first and most important way to find relief---this means turning away from the sin that caused the problem and turning to God for forgiveness and restoration.

"No matter what you've done, and no matter what the consequences have been, you can turn away from sin and turn to God, and he will forgive you. He won't necessarily erase all the consequences, but he will give you forgiveness, comfort, relief, and freedom fro the sins that you've that you've been obligated to maintain."
------ The One Year Study Bible: Arranged in 365 Daily Readings. (c) 2011 by Tyndale House Publishers; Carol Stream, Illinois. All rights reserved. The New Living Translation: Second Edition. ( ISBN 978-1-4143-3922-1 )

Note at bottom of publisher's information page:

"Tyndale House Publishers and Wycliffe Bible Translators share the vision for an understandable, accurate translation of the Bible for every person in the world. Each sale of the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, benefits Wycliffe Bible Translators. Wycliffe is working with partners around the world to accomplish Vision 2025---an initiative to start a Bible translation program in every language group that needs it by the year 2025."
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Links:

www.tyndale.com

www.newlivingtranslation.com

www.wycliffe.org (Also defines/links to their Vision 2025)

 

I really didn't have any particular "point to be drawn or application to be questioned" in my post.

As you can see by my signature below, Lamentations is one of my favorite books for a variety of reasons. IMHO, Lamentations is not merely a "poetic" and/or "wisdom" book or merely an addition to the "major" writings of Jeremiah, but it easily can/should be something close to the heart of every "prophet of God."

One needs to keep in mind (and I'm sure most BB folks would agree---at least to some extent) that. contrary to many people's mindset a true prophet is much more than a person whom God gifted with the ability to give his audience(s) some kind of "spiritual horoscope."

He was commanded by God (at least the "True" ones were) to declare whatever it was that He wanted that prophet's audience to hear....in spite of how that prophet's audience(s) may receive that message.

Now, I'm not a preacher, nor have I ever been the recipient of "The Call to Preach." OTOH I do believe God has called me to be a "teacher." Formally, I did teach both in a Christian Day School and in a very small, unaccredited Bible college (neither of which have been in existence for at least 20 years). Informally I also subbed in SS, a senior citizen's nursing home & in AWANAs.

I'll be the first to admit that my teaching wasn't always as good as I'd hoped it would be---nor did it always meet the high standards as set forth in James 3. In fact, the opposite was usually the case (& still is). I'm by no means a "perfect teacher," and for that I'll one day have to answer.

I have no earned degrees from any seminary; therefore, I don't consider myself to be the go-to person when it comes to a lot of heavy weight debates I see here on BB. The only "earned" degree I have is an MA in History from a state university that was awarded in 1981.

But, getting back to a prophet's calling, in some sense all of us who name the Name of Jesus can/should be at least a prophet to those with whom we see on a regular basis---even a woman can be one for her children, her school students, or other women; or a young person to his/her friends/school mates, etc.; and, of course, a pastor's principal duty is that of a modern day prophet.

I love reading the OT prophets ("Major" or "Minor"). Micah & Habakkuk are absolutely amazing to me---especially when you compare the times in which they lived to our times.

So, no, I just thought my post might encourage some thoughts to its readers. If it did, fine. If it didn't, that's OK with me too.

Selah.