Lamentations for our City! Lamentations for our Nation!

In remembrance of the terrorist attack on America at the World Trade Center and Pentagon, September 11, 2001.

[COPIED FROM MY SCRIPTURE JOURNAL ENTRY FROM 9/23/01] Scriptural analogies in Lamentatios for 911 EVENTS. Jeruelum=NYC; Israel=USA But today 9/12/05, 4 years later the 'lonely' city that was full of people seems to be New Orleans. Through our lamentations will our nation repent and return to our LORD?


LAMENTATIONS New Living Translation


Sorrow in Our City
CHP 1: GOD ALLOWED THE ENEMY TO STRIKE HIS OWN TO PUNISH THE LORD'S CITY FOR ITS INIQUITY.


Jerusalem's streets, once bustling with people, are now silent. Like a widow broken with grief, she sits alone in her mourning. Once the queen of nations, she is now a slave.


5 Her oppressors have become her masters, and her enemies prosper, for the Lord has punished Jerusalem for her many sins. Her children have been captured and taken away to distant lands. ....EVACUEES


7 And now in the midst of her sadness and wandering, Jerusalem remembers her ancient splendor. But then she fell to her enemy, and there was no one to help her. Her enemy struck her down and laughed as she fell.


9 She defiled herself with immorality with no thought of the punishment that would follow. Now she lies in the gutter with no one to lift her out. "Lord, see my deep misery," she cries. "The enemy has triumphed."


21 "Others heard my groans, but no one turned to comfort me. When my enemies heard of my troubles, they were happy to see what you had done. Oh, bring the day you promised, when you will destroy them as you have destroyed me. ....IGNORED AT THE NEW ORLEANS CONVENTION CENTER & SUPERDOME



God's Anger at Sin

CHP2 GOD'S ANGER BEFALLS HIS OWN CITY W/O MERCY AS IF HE WAS THE ENEMY. FALSE PROPHETS, FALSE WORSHIP MISLEAD HIS PEOPLE TO NOT POINT OUT THEIR SINS...ALTHO THE ENEMY BOAST OF THEIR POWER, THE LORD DID IT! GOD IS SOVERIEGN


The Lord in his anger has cast a dark shadow over Jerusalem.* The fairest of Israel's cities lies in the dust, thrown down from the heights of heaven. In his day of awesome fury, the Lord has shown no mercy even to his Temple.*


4 He bends his bow against his people as though he were their enemy. His strength is used against them to kill their finest youth. His fury is poured out like fire on beautiful Jerusalem.*


7 The Lord has rejected his own altar; he despises his own sanctuary. He has given Jerusalem's palaces to her enemies. They shout in the Lord's Temple as though it were a day of celebration.


14 Your "prophets" have said so many foolish things, false to the core. They did not try to hold you back from exile by pointing out your sins. Instead, they painted false pictures, filling you with false hope.


17 But it is the Lord who did it just as he warned. He has fulfilled the promises of disaster he made long ago. He has destroyed Jerusalem without mercy and caused her enemies to rejoice over her and boast of their power.


19 Rise during the night and cry out. Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord. Lift up your hands to him in prayer. Plead for your children as they faint with hunger in the streets.


21 "See them lying in the streets-young and old, boys and girls, killed by the swords of the enemy. You have killed them in your anger, slaughtering them without mercy.

22 "You have invited terrors from all around as though you were calling them to a day of feasting. In the day of the Lord's anger, no one has escaped or survived. The enemy has killed all the children I bore and raised."


Hope in the Lord's Faithfulness

CHP 3 HOPE & WHAT DO WE DO NOW?
NOTE THE REPITIONS OF 'HE' IN THE EARLY VERSES [1-16] OF THIS CHAPTER...AN EMPHASIS ON WHO IS IN CONTROL ...OUR LORD



19 The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words.* 20 I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. 21 Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:

22 The unfailing love of the Lord never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. 23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. 24 I say to myself, "The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!"

25 The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him. 26 So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. 27 And it is good for the young to submit to the yoke of his discipline. [PATIENCE AND DISCIPLINE]

28 Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord's demands. 29 Let them lie face down in the dust; then at last there is hope for them. 30 Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them. Let them accept the insults of their enemies. [HUMILITY]

31 For the Lord does not abandon anyone forever. 32 Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion according to the greatness of his unfailing love. 33 For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.


34 But the leaders of his people trampled prisoners underfoot. 35 They deprived people of their God-given rights in defiance of the Most High. 36 They perverted justice in the courts. Do they think the Lord didn't see it?

37 Can anything happen without the Lord's permission? 38 Is it not the Most High who helps one and harms another? 39 Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins?

40 Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn again in repentance to the Lord.


LESSON: HAVE HOPE; HAVE PATIENCE; HAVE HUMILITY

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