By Michael C. Mack
1. How did you find hope amid your circumstances over the past week?
2. How have you seen God redeem wounds, pain, and grief in your life or the lives of others?
Ask two people to read aloud Lamentations 1:1, 10-18; 2:5-14, 17, 20-21 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Then ask a third person to briefly summarize the passages.
3. What wounds and suffering were the Israelites experiencing?
- In what ways did God directly and indirectly (through the Babylonian captivity, besiegement, and deportment) punish the people for their defiance and disobedience?
- Imagine how these people, God’s covenant people, must have felt with so much taken away from them: their homes, their city, their way of life and ability to worship God in his sanctuary, their ability to fix the situation, their loved ones, God’s comfort, their morality, and much more. In what ways can you empathize with them? How would you respond?
4. What do you learn about people from this passage?
5. What do you learn about God?
6. What warnings can we take from this passage for today and the future?
7. How is confession (see 1:14, 18) and repentance involved in healing?
8. “Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?” (2:13). How would you use this passage and especially that verse to tell someone about God’s goodness and grace?
9. Based on our study and discussion, complete the sentence: “I will . . .”
10. What healing do you need from God right now?
For Next Week: Read and reflect on Lamentations 3:19-33, 39-42, 55-58. You can also read next week’s supplemental texts as well as the Study and Application sections as part of your personal study.
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