Morning Bible Study: Lamentations 3:1-20

3:1 I am the man who has seen affliction

    by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.

2 He has driven me away and made me walk

    in darkness rather than light;

3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me

    again and again, all day long.

4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old

    and has broken my bones.

5 He has besieged me and surrounded me

    with bitterness and hardship.

6 He has made me dwell in darkness

    like those long dead.

7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape;

    he has weighed me down with chains.

8 Even when I call out or cry for help,

    he shuts out my prayer.

9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone;

    he has made my paths crooked.

10 Like a bear lying in wait,

    like a lion in hiding,

11 he dragged me from the path and mangled me

    and left me without help.

12 He drew his bow

    and made me the target for his arrows.

13 He pierced my heart

    with arrows from his quiver.

14 I became the laughingstock of all my people;

    they mock me in song all day long.

15 He has filled me with bitter herbs

    and given me gall to drink.

16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;

    he has trampled me in the dust.

17 I have been deprived of peace;

    I have forgotten what prosperity is.

18 So I say, “My splendor is gone

    and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,

    the bitterness and the gall.

20 I well remember them,

    and my soul is downcast within me.

Commentary

(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary -- www.christianity.com)

"The prophet relates the more gloomy and discouraging part of his experience, and how he found support and relief. In the time of his trial the Lord had become terrible to him. It was an affliction that was misery itself; for sin makes the cup of affliction a bitter cup. The struggle between unbelief and faith is often very severe. But the weakest believer is wrong, if he thinks that his strength and hope are perished from the Lord."