Drama.
Back-stabbing.
Revenge.
Hate.
Jealousy.
Hypocrisy.
They all break up friendships. You've seen it happen. I don't need to explain scenarios to you for you to understand what I mean, because, well, it's everywhere. Especially in high school. One minute someone who you thought was your friend suddenly is the person you're spreading rumors about.
But I feel for that person who is rejected. Whether she stole a boyfriend or loss her virginity, the problem runs deeper than most care to notice. Everyone points their fingers with condemnation while shaming her with their eyes. She feel like she wears a scarlet letter.
In the book of Lamentations Judah is personified as a woman. This really caught my attention and for the first chapter all I could think about was how alike high school this was. Everyone stares and laughs at the girl...and they don't see their own hypocrisy: "With no one to help her, the adversaries saw her and mocked at her downfall" (vs.7). Lamentations 1:2 says, "She weeps bitterly in the night...she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her.They have become her enemies." She is lonely and the saddest part is...she has no choice. No one cares to be seen with her. Everyone is afraid to.
Judah hadn't realized how great her consequences would be, or how desolate she would become (vs. 9). She almost seems shocked at the revelation, and the realization of how disobedient she truly was starts to sink in. This hard lesson has put the fear of God in her.
She continues by saying, "Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Is there any sorrow like my sorrow?" (vs. 12). She's asking for compassion, or for even a small ounce of understanding. But no one wants to. Because to do that, they'd have to admit that they understand her nature to sin. They'd have to admit they were no better than her.
Many times throughout this chapter she exclaims, "I have no comforter." In verse 16 she weeps for her lonliness and how conscious she is of how distant her comforter (God) is from her. In verse 18 she expands upon how rebellious she has been to her righteous and just God, and how undeserving she is of His mercy. The price for disobedience has never been so harsh...and costly.
By verse 20 she is crying out in distress to God - she can't deal with the overwhelming pain, shame, and guilt she suffers. In 21 the people is still rejoicing in her pain, and she reports it to God. She sees their hypocrisy and how unjust it is.
But the last verse, 22, is a warning and even a prophesy, if you will, about those of us who have scorned someone like her. We will have repercussions, my friends: "Let all their wickedness come before You, and do to them as You have done to me for all my transgressions..." Your sins are no better than anyone else's. We all lie and deceive ourselves in this because we are too prideful and self-righteous. Be on your guard, my friends. Confess your sins to God, so on judgement day, your mind doesn't reel back to this blog and the book of Lamentations. Take this warning and heed it wisely.
