His Right Hand - Lamentations 2

Lamentations of Jeremiah 2:3 "He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel, he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about."

(horn in the Old Testament is used to depict power, honor and glory)

I hear it over and over, 'why does God let this or that bad thing happen'. The thinking is reversed. The mighty hand of God holds back harm to us. It is when we run out of his protection that the enemy descends on us. We must remember that we live in an unfriendly world. Christians are in a foreign land because our citizenship is in heaven.

So in this chapter we are told that the right hand of God was drawn back and the enemy came in because of Israel's rebellion.

v1 "How hath the LORD coveted the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!"

There is no question of the love the LORD has for Israel. He raised them up and planted them in Canaan. He raised them up to the greatest nation on earth. It troubled him to punish Israel, yet he declared it in the beginning that chastening would happen if they rebelled against him.

As if from the heart of God:

v11 "Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city."

I think of Calvary and the suffering Jesus Christ suffered so that we would not have to suffer them. His heart was broken for us.

v22 "Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD's anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed."

As a Christian we can find much comfort in the words of the Old Testament, it should be noted that the New Testament is a new and better way that tells us of the grace we are under and the way a Christian should live. Let me say it like this, The law was outward to the inward parts, the Christian (grace) is inward to the outward.

I'm afraid man people take the grace of God for granted but there will come a day when the door of grace will close forever. The same Jesus who died for us and lived that humble life on earth will be the judge as in the days of Israel that we have studied about. It will be a terrible day when the world is judged, we can all see the sin around us and know that that judgment will be harsh. We can read about it in Revelation, the last book in the Bible.

I plead with you that you would learn of this time of grace and take advantage of the love of God before it is too late.