JEREMIAH, LAMENTATIONS

Last night we had three couples over from our church.  We try to have at least three couples per week to eat with us and then we just talk for a while as well.  We start at 6:30pm and end usually around 9:00 or 9:30pm.  We had a great time last night and each night with our guest.  I'm in Jeremiah and Lamentations (of Jeremiah), and here are a few thoughts: 1) LET JERUSALEM COME INTO YOUR MIND- This is what Jeremiah 51:50 says:  "... remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind."  Think on her!  This would not only apply to Jerusalem, but because that city was the chosen city of worship for the Jews, our church should be that which comes into our minds.  Not a city in Israel, but a local church you worship at should often come into your mind.  Let God bring it about... think on it.... dwell on it.... pray for it.... give to it..... serve in it.... thank God for it! 2) SIMPLE OUTLINE OF LAMENTATIONS- In the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah is seen as the weeping prophet, weeping for the destruction of the land of Israel.  We find first, the SITUATION:  In Lamentations 1:3 it says:  "Judah is gone into captivity"; verse 5 says: "her children are gone into captivity before the enemy."  Now, we find the SIN that caused the situation:  verse 8 says:  "Jerusalem hath grievously sinned;"  There is always a reason for the situation if it is a result of judgment .... and that reason is sin.  Now, we see the SADDNESS:  in Lamentations 1:12,  it reads:  "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, shich is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger."  vs. 16 reads:  For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, .."  Chapter 2:11 says:  "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."   But there is more:  There is the SHOCK:  Chapter 2:15 "Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?"  People are shocked when they see what has happened to Jerusalem.  Now the last word in a simple outline of the book:  the SOLUTION:  Lamentations 3:40,41 "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.  Let us lift up our hearts, with our hands unto God in the heavens."    With God.... there is ALWAYS a SOLUTION!!  There it is:  The Situation, The Sin, The Saddness, The Shock, and The Solution.  (my own outline, thank you.)   This could pretty much sum up Lamentations. Well, so much for today.  Have a great Tuesday!  God bless you!