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I don’t think I can imagine what it would be like to be in the position of the writer of Lamentations. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to make an example of Israel because the nation’s rulers had defied him, so he was particularly ruthless. It’s hard to imagine the kind of suffering people experience in war and especially in defeat. Bereavement, illness, injury, fear, the loss of property, hunger and uncertainty about the future are all things that everyone must have gone through.

Curiously the author doesn’t attribute their suffering to the Babylonians, but to God. This is very similar to the way Job talks in his suffering.

${}^8$though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer

The author is in anguish that God didn’t relieve their suffering when they pleaded with him.

${}^{10}$He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding; ${}^{11}$he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; ${}^{12}$he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow. ${}^{13}$He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver;

The author doesn’t just grieve that God didn’t relieve their suffering but talks about God as the one who caused it. The detail about arrows going into kidneys makes me wonder what things the author experienced or saw.

${}^{17}$my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; ${}^{18}$so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD.”

The writer communicates so much of their suffering through the passage. It’s remarkable how the time just suddenly changes in a few verses.

${}^{21}$But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: ${}^{22}$The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; ${}^{23}$they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ${}^{24}$“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” ${}^{25}$The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. ${}^{26}$It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Having said their hope has perished they then recall to their mind the goodness of God and his mercy. How hard it is for God’s people who suffer so much. During our time under the sun we aren’t guaranteed anything. But we can trust that there will be a day when God will write away every tear. In the meantime we must wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

${}^{38}$Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? ${}^{39}$Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? ${}^{40}$Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD! ${}^{41}$Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: ${}^{42}$“We have transgressed and rebelled,