The Way Back Up

37 Who has spoken and it came to pass,
    unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
    that good and bad come?
39 Why should a living man complain,
    a man, about the punishment of his sins?

40 Let us test and examine our ways,
    and return to the Lord!
41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands
    to God in heaven:
42 “We have transgressed and rebelled,
    and you have not forgiven.

Lamentations 3

Jeremiah has hit bottom emotionally.  After a long life lived calling his people to repentance, mourning the premature death of Josiah the great reformer, and then watching each subsequent king go deeper and deeper into "doing evil in the sight of the Lord," he has now witnessed the fall of Jerusalem. He has lost everything.  Having spent the first half of this book mourning these losses as not only national, but personal, he brings himself and his people back to the very character of God.  In verses 22-36 he reminds us of the love, mercy, faithfulness, compassion, and justice of God.  God has been right, and we have been wrong.  He is sovereign and we are not.  We need to call out to Him in confession; He will listen. Jeremiah has hit bottom, and is not looking up. Where are you looking?