O. Addison Gethers
e-mail address [email protected] [email protected] twitter URL http//:twitter.com/OAddisonGethers Messenger contact window live/msn messenger: [email protected] aim: durangoadd64 skype: cowboys62 yahoo messenger: OADDISONGETHERS rs ----- Original Message ----- From: "Donnie Parrett" <[email protected]> To: "Donnie Parrett" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 11:30 PM Subject: Daily Bible Reading For Friday August 28 > Day 240 > > Lamentations 1-3 (The Message) > > Lamentations 1 > Worthless, Cheap, Abject! > 1Oh, oh, oh... How empty the city, once teeming with people. > A widow, this city, once in the front rank of nations, > once queen of the ball, she's now a drudge in the kitchen. > 2She cries herself to sleep each night, tears soaking her pillow. > No one's left among her lovers to sit and hold her hand. > Her friends have all dumped her. > > 3After years of pain and hard labor, Judah has gone into exile. > She camps out among the nations, never feels at home. > Hunted by all, she's stuck between a rock and a hard place. > > 4Zion's roads weep, empty of pilgrims headed to the feasts. > All her city gates are deserted, her priests in despair. > Her virgins are sad. How bitter her fate. > > 5Her enemies have become her masters. Her foes are living it up > because God laid her low, punishing her repeated rebellions. > Her children, prisoners of the enemy, trudge into exile. > > 6All beauty has drained from Daughter Zion's face. > Her princes are like deer famished for food, > chased to exhaustion by hunters. > > 7Jerusalem remembers the day she lost everything, > when her people fell into enemy hands, and not a soul there to help. > Enemies looked on and laughed, laughed at her helpless silence. > > 8Jerusalem, who outsinned the whole world, is an outcast. > All who admired her despise her now that they see beneath the surface. > Miserable, she groans and turns away in shame. > > 9She played fast and loose with life, she never considered tomorrow, > and now she's crashed royally, with no one to hold her hand: > "Look at my pain, O God! And how the enemy cruelly struts." > > 10The enemy reached out to take all her favorite things. She watched > as pagans barged into her Sanctuary, those very people for whom > you posted orders: keep out: this assembly off-limits. > > 11All the people groaned, so desperate for food, so desperate to stay > alive > that they bartered their favorite things for a bit of breakfast: > "O God, look at me! Worthless, cheap, abject! > > 12"And you passersby, look at me! Have you ever seen anything like this? > Ever seen pain like my pain, seen what he did to me, > what God did to me in his rage? > > 13"He struck me with lightning, skewered me from head to foot, > then he set traps all around so I could hardly move. > He left me with nothing-left me sick, and sick of living. > > 14"He wove my sins into a rope > and harnessed me to captivity's yoke. > I'm goaded by cruel taskmasters. > > 15"The Master piled up my best soldiers in a heap, > then called in thugs to break their fine young necks. > The Master crushed the life out of fair virgin Judah. > > 16"For all this I weep, weep buckets of tears, > and not a soul within miles around cares for my soul. > My children are wasted, my enemy got his way." > > 17Zion reached out for help, but no one helped. > God ordered Jacob's enemies to surround him, > and now no one wants anything to do with Jerusalem. > > 18"God has right on his side. I'm the one who did wrong. > Listen everybody! Look at what I'm going through! > My fair young women, my fine young men, all herded into exile! > > 19"I called to my friends; they betrayed me. > My priests and my leaders only looked after themselves, > trying but failing to save their own skins. > > 20"O God, look at the trouble I'm in! My stomach in knots, > my heart wrecked by a life of rebellion. > Massacres in the streets, starvation in the houses. > > 21"Oh, listen to my groans. No one listens, no one cares. > When my enemies heard of the trouble you gave me, they cheered. > Bring on Judgment Day! Let them get what I got! > > 22"Take a good look at their evil ways and give it to them! > Give them what you gave me for my sins. > Groaning in pain, body and soul, I've had all I can take." > > Lamentations 2 > God Walked Away from His Holy Temple > 1 Oh, oh, oh... > How the Master has cut down Daughter Zion > from the skies, dashed Israel's glorious city to earth, > in his anger treated his favorite as throwaway junk. > > 2The Master, without a second thought, took Israel in one gulp. > Raging, he smashed Judah's defenses, > made hash of her king and princes. > > 3His anger blazing, he knocked Israel flat, > broke Israel's arm and turned his back just as the enemy approached, > came on Jacob like a wildfire from every direction. > > 4Like an enemy, he aimed his bow, bared his sword, > and killed our young men, our pride and joy. > His anger, like fire, burned down the homes in Zion. > > 5The Master became the enemy. He had Israel for supper. > He chewed up and spit out all the defenses. > He left Daughter Judah moaning and groaning. > > 6He plowed up his old trysting place, trashed his favorite rendezvous. > God wiped out Zion's memories of feast days and Sabbaths, > angrily sacked king and priest alike. > > 7God abandoned his altar, walked away from his holy Temple > and turned the fortifications over to the enemy. > As they cheered in God's Temple, you'd have thought it was a feast day! > > 8God drew up plans to tear down the walls of Daughter Zion. > He assembled his crew, set to work and went at it. > Total demolition! The stones wept! > > 9Her city gates, iron bars and all, disappeared in the rubble: > her kings and princes off to exile-no one left to instruct or lead; > her prophets useless-they neither saw nor heard anything from God. > > 10The elders of Daughter Zion sit silent on the ground. > They throw dust on their heads, dress in rough penitential burlap- > the young virgins of Jerusalem, their faces creased with the dirt. > > 11My eyes are blind with tears, my stomach in a knot. > My insides have turned to jelly over my people's fate. > Babies and children are fainting all over the place, > > 12Calling to their mothers, "I'm hungry! I'm thirsty!" > then fainting like dying soldiers in the streets, > breathing their last in their mothers' laps. > > 13How can I understand your plight, dear Jerusalem? > What can I say to give you comfort, dear Zion? > Who can put you together again? This bust-up is past understanding. > > 14Your prophets courted you with sweet talk. > They didn't face you with your sin so that you could repent. > Their sermons were all wishful thinking, deceptive illusions. > > 15Astonished, passersby can't believe what they see. > They rub their eyes, they shake their heads over Jerusalem. > Is this the city voted "Most Beautiful" and "Best Place to Live"? > > 16But now your enemies gape, slack-jawed. > Then they rub their hands in glee: "We've got them! > We've been waiting for this! Here it is!" > > 17God did carry out, item by item, exactly what he said he'd do. > He always said he'd do this. Now he's done it-torn the place down. > He's let your enemies walk all over you, declared them world champions! > > 18Give out heart-cries to the Master, dear repentant Zion. > Let the tears roll like a river, day and night, > and keep at it-no time-outs. Keep those tears flowing! > > 19As each night watch begins, get up and cry out in prayer. > Pour your heart out face-to-face with the Master. > Lift high your hands. Beg for the lives of your children > who are starving to death out on the streets. > > 20"Look at us, God. Think it over. Have you ever treated anyone like this? > Should women eat their own babies, the very children they raised? > Should priests and prophets be murdered in the Master's own Sanctuary? > > 21"Boys and old men lie in the gutters of the streets, > my young men and women killed in their prime. > Angry, you killed them in cold blood, cut them down without mercy. > > 22"You invited, like friends to a party, men to swoop down in attack > so that on the big day of God's wrath no one would get away. > The children I loved and reared-gone, gone, gone." > > Lamentations 3 > God Locked Me Up in Deep Darkness > 1-3 I'm the man who has seen trouble, > trouble coming from the lash of God's anger. > He took me by the hand and walked me > into pitch-black darkness. > Yes, he's given me the back of his hand > over and over and over again. > 4-6He turned me into a scarecrow > of skin and bones, then broke the bones. > He hemmed me in, ganged up on me, > poured on the trouble and hard times. > He locked me up in deep darkness, > like a corpse nailed inside a coffin. > > 7-9He shuts me in so I'll never get out, > manacles my hands, shackles my feet. > Even when I cry out and plead for help, > he locks up my prayers and throws away the key. > He sets up blockades with quarried limestone. > He's got me cornered. > > 10-12He's a prowling bear tracking me down, > a lion in hiding ready to pounce. > He knocked me from the path and ripped me to pieces. > When he finished, there was nothing left of me. > He took out his bow and arrows > and used me for target practice. > > 13-15He shot me in the stomach > with arrows from his quiver. > Everyone took me for a joke, > made me the butt of their mocking ballads. > He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat, > bloated me with vile drinks. > > 16-18He ground my face into the gravel. > He pounded me into the mud. > I gave up on life altogether. > I've forgotten what the good life is like. > I said to myself, "This is it. I'm finished. > God is a lost cause." > > It's a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God > 19-21I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, > the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed. > I remember it all-oh, how well I remember- > the feeling of hitting the bottom. > But there's one other thing I remember, > and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: > 22-24God's loyal love couldn't have run out, > his merciful love couldn't have dried up. > They're created new every morning. > How great your faithfulness! > I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). > He's all I've got left. > > 25-27God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, > to the woman who diligently seeks. > It's a good thing to quietly hope, > quietly hope for help from God. > It's a good thing when you're young > to stick it out through the hard times. > > 28-30When life is heavy and hard to take, > go off by yourself. Enter the silence. > Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions: > Wait for hope to appear. > Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face. > The "worst" is never the worst. > > 31-33Why? Because the Master won't ever > walk out and fail to return. > If he works severely, he also works tenderly. > His stockpiles of loyal love are immense. > He takes no pleasure in making life hard, > in throwing roadblocks in the way: > > 34-36Stomping down hard > on luckless prisoners, > Refusing justice to victims > in the court of High God, > Tampering with evidence- > the Master does not approve of such things. > > God Speaks Both Good Things and Hard Things into Being > 37-39Who do you think "spoke and it happened"? > It's the Master who gives such orders. > Doesn't the High God speak everything, > good things and hard things alike, into being? > And why would anyone gifted with life > complain when punished for sin? > 40-42Let's take a good look at the way we're living > and reorder our lives under God. > Let's lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time, > praying to God in heaven: > "We've been contrary and willful, > and you haven't forgiven. > > 43-45"You lost your temper with us, holding nothing back. > You chased us and cut us down without mercy. > You wrapped yourself in thick blankets of clouds > so no prayers could get through. > You treated us like dirty dishwater, > threw us out in the backyard of the nations. > > 46-48"Our enemies shout abuse, > their mouths full of derision, spitting invective. > We've been to hell and back. > We've nowhere to turn, nowhere to go. > Rivers of tears pour from my eyes > at the smashup of my dear people. > > 49-51"The tears stream from my eyes, > an artesian well of tears, > Until you, God, look down from on high, > look and see my tears. > When I see what's happened to the young women in the city, > the pain breaks my heart. > > 52-54"Enemies with no reason to be enemies > hunted me down like a bird. > They threw me into a pit, > then pelted me with stones. > Then the rains came and filled the pit. > The water rose over my head. I said, 'It's all over.' > > 55-57"I called out your name, O God, > called from the bottom of the pit. > You listened when I called out, 'Don't shut your ears! > Get me out of here! Save me!' > You came close when I called out. > You said, 'It's going to be all right.' > > 58-60"You took my side, Master; > you brought me back alive! > God, you saw the wrongs heaped on me. > Give me my day in court! > Yes, you saw their mean-minded schemes, > their plots to destroy me. > > 61-63"You heard, God, their vicious gossip, > their behind-my-back plots to ruin me. > They never quit, these enemies of mine, dreaming up mischief, > hatching out malice, day after day after day. > Sitting down or standing up-just look at them!- > they mock me with vulgar doggerel. > > 64-66"Make them pay for what they've done, God. > Give them their just deserts. > Break their miserable hearts! > Damn their eyes! > Get good and angry. Hunt them down. > Make a total demolition here under your heaven!" > > > > Previous Book:Go to JeremiahPrevious Chapter : Go to Jeremiah 52Show > ChapterNext Chapter : Go to > Lamentations 4Next Book:Go to EzekielListen to this passageView commentary > related to this > passageEmbed this passage? > Passage Update > Link > Embed > Verse Numbers Footnotes > Cross-References Headings > show hide embed options > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Go to mobile site > Go to the top of the page > Contact us/Feedback > Gospel.com > Site map > Privacy policy > Terms of use > > > > ~~~~~ > Please join us on Skype Monday thru Friday at 8:00 EST for our Morning > Skype Prayer Time. > Also, follow my tweets on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/Donnie1261 > > > Contact Me At: > Donnie Parrett > 1956 Asa Flat Road > Annville, Kentucky 40402 > Home Phone: 606-364-3321 > Church Phone: 606-364-PRAY > Skype Name: Donnie1261 > Email: [email protected] > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Deaf-Blind Inspirational Life Group" group. 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