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June 21 Daily Devotional

MINE EYES DO FAIL WITH TEARS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE DAUGHTER OF MY PEOPLE

Henry T. Vriesen

Lamentations 1–5

Jerusalem was destroyed. As Jeremiah looked at the ruins of the Holy City, grief filled his soul. The great prophet wept and lamented, “How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! … Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest … The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions.”

“Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled … for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. They say to their mothers, Where is corn? … when their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom. What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee? … All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? … The Lord hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he hath commanded in the days of old; he hath thrown down and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee.”

“It is of the Lord’s mercy that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear his yoke in his youth … For the Lord will not cast off for ever: but though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.

“Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens … Thou, O Lord, remainest forever; thy throne from generation to generation. Wherefore dost thou forget us forever, and forsake us so long time? Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.”

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