September 26, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity. You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through. You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.”

(Lamentations 3.43-45)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD TO US:

Mighty ones, there really is little new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1.9)

In the midst of Jeremiah’s lament, which is both a personal and corporate lament, we hear not only his words and God’s words but the perspective of the people. It is the perspective of blame. In the verses presented above from Lamentations 3, we hear three blame statements. Perhaps Jeremiah senses them himself and is not merely sharing what the people say with their mouths which they are thinking in the head and heart. Even Job lamented in the midst of his friends how hard it was to endure the hardships which had come against him and his family. In those moments of experiencing defeat in the flesh and the unreasonableness of such things happening to him when he believed he was faithful to God, Job raised concerns, doubts and blame. He did not tarry long on them. He had friends who presented these arguments time and again in the attempt to convince him that God was evil. Even his wife invited him to “blame” God. Fortunately for us, Job did not, Jeremiah did not, Paul did not, there were others who gave their lives as statements of claiming God as their Savior and not blaming Him as their enemy. Most importantly, Jesus Christ did not “...and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Let me return to my beginning statement, pivoting on Solomon’s wisdom in Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun.” Ah, the faces and situations may change but the reality remains the same. In today’s world we are surrounded by blame statements. They are the assigning of the responsibility of others for their own sitz im leben, their life condition (especially when things are not going as they wanted and planned.) The cries for “justice, freedom, liberty, compensation and recompense and the means by which to be their own authority and under that of no other” are all blame statements. Their focus is on an entitlement mentality centering on “…because I said so.” As mighty ones of God, we abide by only “one” “because I said so.” That one statement is “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, in whom I have life eternal with the Father in Heaven because He has given His life as an atonement for my sin which leads to eternal death and saved me from that most terrible end.” Regardless, mighty ones of God, of how the times may seem to have changed, this one truth remains eternal, unbending and secure for believers, unbelievers and non-believers alike.

Yes, the verses presented today as part of Jeremiah’s personal lament out of which we hear his commitment to stay faithful to God and accomplish the task given to him regardless of the price he will pay in this world reflect much of that same sentiment about God today. It is worth noting that Jeremiah demonstrated great faith even in his moments of lament and trials. His focus was not so much for himself and the reward of a blessed afterlife. His focus was on the people whom he served for God and the hope of their repentance, reconciliation and renewal as the people of God. What was most important was to trust in God and follow Him as the Spirit led. His voice was to be the voice of reason and truth. That would define and put in proper perspective what the people said and what should have been said. The summary of what should have been said is this “God is faithful to do as He promised to do for better or worse and we are responsible for doing what is right and good as God has revealed it.” Hear the blame statements in today’s verses (43-45):

BLAME #1: You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity. God is to blame because He is angry or worse, He puts on the mask of anger and chases “the innocent” around because He is angry with them. Does God have a reason to be angry. Have His children been selfish, self-centered, self-serving and disobedient instead of fulfilling the requirements of God’s command (Love God with one’s whole self and love your neighbor as you yourself are loved). Of course, the complaint is that God is angry and angry people do not do harmful things or exact punishment that seems severe. If there is any problem, from this vantage point, it is that God’s ways are too high and His thoughts too pure. People are, after all, only human, right? Except God did not create humanity as an imperfect creature. To qualify humanity as less than the Creator intended denies the original design and purpose of the person regardless of any designation. Even after the consequence of sin which disturbs the physical, mental and spiritual DNA of every human being (the result of original sin) is revealed, the onus is on the person to grasp who they are in God’s image working from the inside out. We considered this in Isaiah’s declaration before God in the Temple on the days following the death of King Uzziah, “Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips dwelling in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” He was not saying he needed a botox injection or make-up to rectify a problem with his/their physical lips. Indeed, he was speaking of the spirit within that was refusing to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit which can speak God’s truth perfectly and correct God’s people transformative-ly.

BLAME #2: You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through. There is a word we sometimes use when it comes to describing a fog. That word is “dense.” The application of that word is more than a physical one, it might also be a psychological one or, in this case, a spiritual one. God is blamed with being unapproachable and guarded. I am not sure what they thought could threaten God’s existence that He would need protection. Yes, in the story of The Tower of Babel, God brought down the tower because the people collaborated in their desire to be “equal with God.” As if ascending into the heavens, at least rising above the earth, could make one equal with God. Yuri Gagarin, Russian cosmonaut and the first man launched into space, is said to have scoffed, “I see no God from here.” He wasn’t trying to be equal with God. He was laughing at those who believed that God was “way up in the middle of the air.” He was trying to dispel God as if He was a myth. I would call such thinking “dense.” So cluttered with arguments, complaints and “knowledge” is the heart and mind of such a person that nothing could get through to them about what is truth. As the people in Jeremiah’s day, and in most all other days, felt the lack of presence of God because of their dire situation which “wasn’t their fault,” they accused God of hiding. The image probably referred to when the Hebrew freed slaves camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai. It was there that Moses reascended the mountain to speak and learn from God about what was next in their journey to the Promised Land. The mountain was said to have been covered by a thick cloud. Only Moses could enter through it and approach the revelation of God. Maybe the people started feeling the detachment of promise and that Moses was “entitled.” They thought they were entitled to; entitled to a life of their choosing now that they were free. They were so “dense” that they would not trust the command to “wait.” They acted impatiently and put on their own shroud of sin as had the Egyptians. The consequence was a great loss of that generation. God was not separating Himself from them with the cloud so that they could not reach Him. He was always available if they would believe and trust. The cloud did signify that He alone was God and they were His people.

BLAME #3: You have made us scum and refuse among the nations. Let’s face it, exile was not ever meant to be luxurious. Even when the leadership, both political and spiritual, of Israel was carried off to Babylon, they kept their status, but they were not spoiled by their captors. Their clothes grew tattered and faded. They did not have servants to do for them. They had to do for themselves. If that was the fate of the “cream of the crop,” then what about the rest? They became impoverished and second- or third-class citizens. They had to glean from the edges of their own fields as the captors now were the owners of them. Houses and buildings had been destroyed. There was little resource to rebuild. Many gave themselves into the service of their captors just to survive and their situations were not always moral and spiritually upright. All of that was God’s fault. He didn’t love them. He didn’t protect them. He didn’t care about them. He was totally unfair, unkind and unfaithful. There was no sense of personal moral and spiritual accountability. They never put ownership to the causes of their own demise. It was one of their own making. Even having been warned by God’s word and that Word reinforced by their own experience and that of their ancestors, they still blamed God. They still blamed God even after confessing their sin but not forsaking it.

Mighty ones of God, don’t let this be our failure as well to live by blame instead of claiming the truth of God for our lives.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.