“Her enemies have become her masters.” -Lamentations 1:5

I keep imagining a little girl – free and unfettered, like the birds of the air – running barefoot across the prairie grasses, hair blowing in the wind, naked as the day she was born, yet clothed in light – not giving one thought to herself… fear cannot touch her because she knows she is in her Father’s House. Shame cannot touch her because she cares nothing for herself apart from being her Father’s. Vanity cannot touch her because her value comes only from her Father and He loves her perfectly and she knows this Truth, lives in this truth. She is complete in Him. 

But then something begins happening… An enemy assaults her Perfect Freedom in Him. In a million tiny seemingly insignificant ways. Whispers of doubt about the Father’s sufficiency in provision. Whispers of doubt about her value, causing her to think that her Father’s love is based on her performance or looks… that her Father’s love is no longer sufficient; she must please others… her enemy is ruthless. Low blow after low blow – feelings of guilt mingle with self-pity and inadequacy causing a melting pot of human emotions laying a heavy burden across her shoulders. Keep in mind, however, the Father has never changed; He was and is everything she believed and so so so much more. This choice to receive the burdens and give the enemy control is hers and hers alone. And even this cannot break the Father’s love for her, but she allowed “her enemies to become her masters.” She traded the Master of Love for the robbing, thieving masters of this world. This is Jeremiah’s lament. It is worth lamenting.

“I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of the 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: God’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.

“God 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. 

“When 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 the trouble. Take it full-face. The “worst“ is never the worst. Why? 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: Stomping 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.

“Who 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? Let’s take a good look at the way we’re living and reorder our lives under God…” -Lamentations 3:19-41

…”Oh, oh, oh… How gold is treated like dirt, the finest gold thrown out with the garbage, priceless jewels scattered all over, jewels loose in the gutters. And the people of Zion, once prized, far surpassing their weight in gold, are now treated like cheap pottery, like everyday pots and bowls mass-produced by a potter. -Lamentations 4:1-2