“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:7-12).

Song: Psalms 119:129-136, Pe

“Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them. The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands. Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name. Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me. Redeem me from human oppression, that I may obey your precepts. Make your face shine on your servant and teach me your decrees. Streams of tears flow from my eyes for your law is not obeyed.” 

Jesus is God’s gift of freedom from bondage to leaders and their idols. 

“Lamentations is a funeral song about the devastated city of Jerusalem” (Holy Bible, Bible Guide, Longhorn Student Edition). 

The song is about the people of God. If the kingdom of God were a place, Jerusalem would be its capital, physically. Metaphorically the place where God rules, God’s throne, is in the hearts of his people. We, the body of Christ, are where God has chosen to place his spirit. God does not live in buildings made by human hands, we are the building. In Lamentations the prophet Jeremiah is mourning over that building where God dwells, that it has been devastated. 

Once the kingdom of God and the body of Christ was “full of people” and “great among nations” now, she is like a widow, someone who has lost her husband, the historic meaning of husband as one who takes care of and provides for through the unity of marriage, not the modern meaning of husband, a male spouse (Lamentations 1:1). 

Jeremiah says that the body of Christ used to be royalty among people and now she “has become a slave” she used to rule and have authority, now she is ruled and under authority; and this displacement, this loss causes the heart of God and the people of God still committed to him to mourn over their circumstance and “there is no one to comfort her” because “all her friends” those who once also were a part of this great city, the kingdom of God, the place where God dwells “have betrayed her; they have become her enemies” (Lamentations 1:1-2). 

Not only has the body of Christ lost her protector, become a slave and deserted God, but the people of God under their new rulers are afflicted “with harsh labor” and no rest. Anyone who claims to be a part of the body of Christ is considered a foreigner in the land where they dwell; everyone who attacks her is able to overtake her; she is beaten and in distress (Lamentations 1:3). 

Jeremiah cries that “No one comes to her appointed festivals to worship God. Those in leadership in the body of Christ grieve for this great city of the people of God for all the anguish it has gone through and its current circumstances because everyone who opposes God now rules over the people of God and “have become her Masters” (Lamentations 1:4-5). 

Jesus is God’s gift of freedom from devastation because of disobedience.

God has done this to his people and put the enemies of God at ease because of the sins that the people of God have committed (Lamentations 1:5). God has allowed both parents and children to become the plunder of the enemies of God and to be foreigners in a foreign land, exiles from the kingdom of God, captive to the enemies of God (Lamentations 1:5). 

Everyone once mighty in the kingdom of God has been made weak, everyone royal in the kingdom of God has lost their splendor (Lamentations 1:6). God has allowed the people of God to fall into the hands of the enemies of God and they have taken away all of the treasures of the kingdom of God (Lamentations 1:7). “Her enemies look at her and laugh at her destruction” (Lamentations 1:7). 

God has allowed this destruction because the people of God “have sinned greatly” he has taken from her, her splendor and her honor (Lamentations 1:8). Everyone who knows of the people of God despise her and look at her exposed in all of her ruin (Lamentations 1:8). All of her “filthiness” has been exposed to the enemies of God and they despise her for it (Lamentations 1:9). Because of her sins God has allowed his people, the people of God to fall from glory. And Jeremiah says, “her fall was astounding” (Lamentations 1:9). There was no one to comfort her even when she cried, ‘Look, Lord, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed’ (Lamentations 1:9). 

Jeremiah mourns that God allowed the enemies of God to capture all of her treasures, even the most holy and sacred places in the body of Christ have become filled with enemies of God, they are in his sanctuaries and ministers in churches. Because God has allowed the enemies of God to enter his sacred places as ministers, the people of God are fed lies and starved of the truth of who he is (Lamentations 1:10). They search and give all of their treasures “for (spiritual) food to keep themselves alive” and pray (Lamentations 1:11): 

“Look, Lord, and consider, for I am despised. Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see. Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me, that the Lord brought on me in the day of his fierce anger? From on high he sent fire, sent it down into my bones.
He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long. “My sins have been bound into a yoke, by his hands they were woven together. They have been hung on my neck, and the Lord has sapped my strength. He has given me into the hands of those I cannot withstand. The Lord has rejected all the warriors in my midst; he has summoned an army against me to crush my young men. In his winepress the Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah. This is why I weep and my eyes overflow with tears. No one is near to comfort me, no one to restore my spirit. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed.” (Lamentations 1:11-16)

And even though the people of God recognize that it is because of their sin and unrepentant hearts that all of this destruction has come to the body of Christ, the people of God, she “still stretches out her hands” to God “but there is no one to comfort her” because God has spoken against his people because of her uncleanliness, even those closest to the people of God are her enemies and are against her and still she pleads and prays (Lamentations 1:17): 

“The Lord is righteous, yet I rebelled against his command. Listen, all you peoples; look on my suffering. My young men and young women have gone into exile. I called to my allies but they betrayed me. My priests and my elders perished in the city while they searched for food to keep themselves alive. See, Lord, how distressed I am! I am in torment within, and in my heart, I am disturbed, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is only death. People have heard my groaning, but there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my distress; they rejoice at what you have done. May you bring the day you have announced so they may become like me. Let all their wickedness come before you; deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my sins. My groans are many and my heart is faint” (Lamentations 1:18-22). 

Jesus is God’s gift of freedom to listen to God’s word and to trust in the Lord.

In Ezekiel chapter 20 through chapter 24 God speaks to his people about their rebellion. What they have done to bring about his wrath against them. First, he speaks to the elders of Israel, which translate to today’s leaders of the body of Christ. God asks Ezekiel why the leaders of the body of Christ are coming to him asking for guidance. God says “I will not let you inquire of me” that he has no council to offer only judgement and tells Ezekiel to “confront them with the detestable practices of their ancestors” that they continue to promote (Ezekiel 20:3-4). 

God then tells Ezekiel to speak these words: 

“On the day I chose Israel, I swore with uplifted hand to the descendants of Jacob and revealed myself to them in Egypt. With uplifted hand I said to them, ‘I am the Lord your God.’On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of Egypt into a land I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands. And I said to them, ‘Each of you, get rid of the vile images you have set your eyes on, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’ But they rebelled against me and would not listen to me; they did not get rid of the vile images they had set their eyes on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. So, I said I would pour out my wrath on them and spend my anger against them in Egypt. 

But for the sake of my name, I brought them out of Egypt. I did it to keep my name from being profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they lived and in whose sight I had revealed myself to the Israelites. Therefore I led them out of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. I gave them my decrees and made known to them my laws, by which the person who obeys them will live. Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy. Yet the people of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not follow my decrees but rejected my laws—by which the person who obeys them will live—and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and destroy them in the wilderness. 

But for the sake of my name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands— because they rejected my laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths. For their hearts were devoted to their idols. 

Yet I looked on them with pity and did not destroy them or put an end to them in the wilderness. I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not follow the statutes of your parents or keep their laws or defile yourselves with their idols.I am the Lord your God; follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.

But the children rebelled against me: They did not follow my decrees, they were not careful to keep my laws, of which I said, ‘The person who obeys them will live by them,’ and they desecrated my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness. But I withheld my hand, and for the sake of my name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries,because they had not obeyed my laws but had rejected my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes lusted after their parents’ idols. So I gave them other statutes that were not good and laws through which they could not live; I defiled them through their gifts—the sacrifice of every firstborn—that I might fill them with horror so they would know that I am the Lord.

Therefore, son of man, speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In this also your ancestors blasphemed me by being unfaithful to me: When I brought them into the land I had sworn to give them and they saw any high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, made offerings that aroused my anger, presented their fragrant incense and poured out their drink offerings. Then I said to them: What is this high place you go to?” (Ezekiel 20:5-29)

God told Ezekiel to tell the leaders of his people that he has been good to them. He spoke promises to them and kept them, even when they rebelled he rescued them, but they taught their children to worship the gods of people around them even to the point of sacrificing their children on the altar of these gods. 

God asks Ezekiel to ask the leaders of the people of God who are asking him for guidance if they will also “defile yourselves the way your ancestors did and lust after their vile images” and accuses them of continuing to “defile yourselves with all your idols to this day” (Ezekiel 20:31). God tells Ezekiel to tell these elders of the people of God that he will not let them look to him for guidance (Ezekiel 20:31). 

Jesus is God’s promise of freedom to his people, the body of Christ. 

God then tells Ezekiel to speak these words to the leaders of the people of God. That although his people desire to be like other people of the world, he is their God and will not allow it. 

God says, “what you have in mind will never happen” (Ezekiel 20:32). Instead God tells Ezekiel to tell the leaders of his people that he will again be ruler of his people and will judge them according to their actions and bring them back into covenant with him (Ezekiel 20:33-37). 

God says that even if his people go and serve idols, they will hear God’s voice and be drawn back to God by his word (Ezekiel 20:39). 

Even in their rebellion God makes a promise to his people that he will create a stronghold for his people an unmovable structure, a mountain of a kingdom where he will gather his people to from all the ideologies that they have turned to and there, God will accept them, by his word. 

God says that he will deal with his people “for his names sake and not according to their evil ways and corrupt practices” (Ezekiel 20:44). 

^“You say, “We want to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world, who serve wood and stone.” But what you have in mind will never happen. 

As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will reign over you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. I will bring you from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered—with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath.

I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations and there, face to face, I will execute judgment upon you. As I judged your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will take note of you as you pass under my rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

I will purge you of those who revolt and rebel against me. Although I will bring them out of the land where they are living, yet they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 

As for you, people of Israel, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Go and serve your idols, every one of you! But afterward you will surely listen to me and no longer profane my holy name with your gifts and idols. 

For on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord, there in the land all the people of Israel will serve me, and there I will accept them. 

There I will require your offerings and your choice gifts, along with all your holy sacrifices. I will accept you as fragrant incense when I bring you out from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will be proved holy through you in the sight of the nations.

Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the land I had sworn with uplifted hand to give to your ancestors. There you will remember your conduct and all the actions by which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evil you have done. 

You will know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for my name’s sake and not according to your evil ways and your corrupt practices, you people of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.” (Ezekiel 20:32-44) 

God says about his people, the body of Christ in Hosea 11:1-11 that whenever the enemy has taken them captive, he has been there to set them free from their bondage. When there was no means of escape and they were slaves in Egypt, he called his people back to himself. 

God promises that even though his people, the people of God serve other gods and sacrifice to them and because of this he has allowed them to become captive to their enemies and endure the destruction described in Lamentations 1, God refuses to give up his people to the enemies of God. Even though he has punished them for rejecting him, his love and compassion will not allow his fierce anger to devastate the body of Christ because he is “God and not a man. The holy one among you” (Hosea 11:9). 

God promises that when he calls for his people this time, through the voice of his son Jesus, the word of God, “they will follow the Lord” he will speak and when he speaks his children will return to him from all of the places that their captivity and suffering and destruction has led them and held them captive and God, in Jesus declares “I will settle them” back in his holy city, the kingdom of God under his protection and provision (Hosea 11:11)

Free at Last through Jesus the son of God.  

“To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his. What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; those he imprisons cannot be released. If he hold back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land. 

To him belong strength and insight; both deceived and deceiver are his. He leads rulers away stripped and makes fools of judges. He takes off the shackles put on by kings and ties a loincloth round their waist. 

He leads priests away stripped and overthrows officials long established. He silences the lips of trusted advisors and takes away the discernment of elders. He pours contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty. 

He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into the light. He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them. He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he makes them wander in a trackless waste. They grope in darkness with no light; he makes them stagger like drunkards” (Job 12:13-25). 

Prayer: Psalms 125

“Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forever more. The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil. Lord, do good to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart. But those who turn to crooked ways the Lord will banish with the evil doers. Peace be on Israel.”