Week 3 March 2026, Devotion Part 2

If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak anymore in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot.  Jeremiah 20:9

When our “season of lament” overlaps with Lent, it does not mean we discredit the promise of Easter joy by seeking counsel from the author of the Book of Lamentations. The “weeping prophet” fully owned his humanity, as we are allowed to admit to ours. The God incarnate in His Son Jesus did not brush off the prospect of Gethsemane or Calvary’s agony as a flippant hiccup in religious history. When agonizing circumstances make us feel hopelessly pinned down, we rightfully crave relief and rest. The death wish does get brushed off, and as God’s Easter people we are confident that the sun will rise to quicken Jeremiah’s hopes. What if his wake-up call reminds us instead of “Double Jeopardy!”  - the game show where the answer must come in the form of a question? To wit, “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?  If you stumble in a peaceful land, how will you do In the thickets of the Jordan?” That’s where lions lurked in the lush undergrowth. As if this were not scary enough, we learn with Jeremiah, “Even your brothers – your own father’s household – even they have betrayed you; even they have cried aloud against you. Do not trust them, although they may say nice things to you” (Jeremiah 12:5-6).

Right on the heels of the prophet’s “burning fire” lament, he gives the final answer that on Jeopardy! would qualify him for the Tournament of Champions. He matter-of-factly states, “But the LORD is with me like a dread champion.” Biblically speaking, he is the fierce warrior who represents the nation in a contest for its fate. Think Goliath, picked by the Philistines to put Israel into their pocket. The smooth stone picked by puny David put him on the nation’s throne. One commentator put it in this fun way for lay people, “The dread champion is the big stick that defends the little guy.” Amen?  Part 2 of 2

Comment: That dreadful false prophetess who champions sightseeing tours of heaven and plugs her blogs from the “Revelation Zone,” raves about the Holy Spirit’s poetry.  The God-breathed Book of Lamentations is a collection of 5 poems, detailing Israel’s grief after Jerusalem’s destruction by the Babylonians, the result of persistent rebellion and ignored passionately voiced warnings. It details the subsequent suffering, violence, and starvation of the population. As one Bible scholar wrote, “The poems capture the raw emotions of grief and loss…the horrors of war and the collapse of their community life. There is acknowledgement of sin and a call for contrition and repentance, holding the people responsible for their fate. The final poem is a prayer for God to remember His Covenant and to restore His people to their land and former glory.”  If this echoes the Lord’s Prayer, why hold in what deserves shouting out in loud acclamation?  “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”  Jeremiah 20