Lamentations 3:55 - Meaning and Application

We can see a struggle throughout this chapter in the prophet’s heart. Sense and faith, fear and hope, keep battling with each other. He complains, then comforts himself, and then returns to his complaints, as in Psalm 42. But here, as there, faith has the last word and wins in the end, because he finishes with comfort.

He finds that comfort in two things. First, he remembers God’s goodness even in his suffering. This may be his own personal experience, which he uses to encourage himself about the public troubles around him. The God who has helped individual saints in time will not fail his people as a whole. Or he may be speaking of the faithful remnant among the Jews, who had learned that waiting on God is never wasted.

In three ways, he and his godly friends had seen God’s goodness. God had heard their prayers, even when they feared the cloud of wrath was too thick for prayer to pass through (Lamentations 3:44). When they were in the low dungeon, like people already counted among the dead, they called on the name of the Lord (Lamentations 3:55). Their tears did not stop their praying. Even in the deepest pit, we still have access to God in heaven. “Out of the depths I cry to you,” says Psalm 130:1, and Jonah prayed from the belly of the fish.

Could God hear them from the low dungeon, and would he? Yes, he did. “You heard my voice.” Some read the next words as part of the same thankful statement: “You did not hide your ear from my breathing, from my cry.” The Hebrew can support that reading. As it stands here, it is a prayer for continued help: “Do not hide your ear.” God’s past answer to prayer, even from the lowest place, gives us reason to trust that he will not turn away from us now.

Notice that he calls prayer his breathing. In prayer, we breathe toward God, and we breathe after him. Even if we are weak in prayer, and can do no more than breathe out groans too deep for words, we will not be ignored if our hearts are sincere. Prayer is the breath of the new life. It draws in mercy through requests and sends it back in praise. It is both the sign of spiritual life and what keeps it alive. Some take the phrase to mean, “when I was gasping,” as if he were saying, “When I was near death, and thought I was breathing my last, you noticed my distress.”

God had also come near and quieted their fears (Lamentations 3:57). “You drew near on the day I called on you.” He had kindly assured them of his presence, so they could see that he was near, even when they had thought he was far away. When we draw near to God in duty, we may by faith see him drawing near to us in mercy. But that was not all. “You said, ‘Do not fear.’” That was the voice of God’s prophets, calling the people not to be afraid (Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 41:13, Isaiah 41:14). It was also God’s providence, keeping back what they feared, and his grace, calming their hearts through the Spirit’s witness that they were still his people, even in trouble.

He had already begun to act for them (Lamentations 3:58). “Lord, you have pleaded the case of my soul.” In other words, God had redeemed his life, rescued it from those who would have taken it, and saved it when it was about to be swallowed up. He had given him life instead of destruction. That past rescue gives confidence that God will go on helping them. He who has delivered the soul from death will also keep the feet from falling and continue to plead their cause.

Second, he comforts himself by appealing to God’s justice, and, for that purpose, to God’s full knowledge of everything. He appeals first to God’s knowledge of the facts, especially how cruel and malicious his enemies were (Lamentations 3:59). “Lord, you have seen my wrong.” He had done no wrong, yet he suffered greatly. God, who knows all things, knew their malice too. He saw all their vengeance, how they wanted to hurt him as if they were repaying some great injury. We should remember, to our warning, that God sees every revengeful thought we hold against others, so we must not keep those thoughts in our hearts. He also sees every revengeful thought others hold against us without cause, so we need not fear them. We can leave our protection with him.

God also saw the schemes they had formed to harm him (Lamentations 3:60). He saw all their plots, all their plans against him, and again, he heard all their plots (Lamentations 3:61). Whether their evil showed itself in words or deeds, it was known to God. Even when the results of their plotting could not yet be seen or heard, God still understood their purpose. The secret plans of the church’s enemies are fully known to the church’s God. They cannot hide anything from him.

God had also heard the insults and lies they spread about him, all the cruel things they said. He heard their reproach, the false charges they made, the bad names they gave him, and all the ways they tried to make him hateful and contemptible. He heard the insulting words of those who rose up against him, spoken again and again, morning and night, at every meal and in every company, as if he were their constant entertainment. They laughed at his misery, like the Philistines mocking Samson. Jerusalem became the object of their mockery, the song they played over and over. Perhaps they had some tune, play, or public show called the destruction of Jerusalem, which, though tragic in itself, pleased those who wished evil on the holy city. God will one day call sinners to account for every hard word they have spoken against him and his people (Jude 1:15).

He then appeals to God’s judgment on the matter: “Lord, you have seen my wrong. There is no need for more proof or for anyone to press the case. You see it clearly, and I leave it with you. Judge my cause” (Lamentations 3:59). Let them be dealt with as they deserve, according to the work of their hands (Lamentations 3:64).

Let them be treated as they have treated us. Let your hand be against them as their hand has been against us. They have caused us much trouble, so now, Lord, give them sorrow of heart, or confusion of mind, as some read it. Let them be surrounded by threats and troubles on every side, so they cannot see a way out. Or, as others read it, give them despair of heart, so they are driven to hopelessness and give up as ruined.

God can confuse the mind that seems the clearest and break the heart that seems the strongest. “Let them be dealt with according to the threatenings: your curse on them.” In other words, let all the warnings spoken in your word against your people’s enemies come on them, as in (Lam 3:65). They have loaded us with curses, so let your curse come on them. Their curses were without cause, so they will not succeed, but your curse is just, and it will take effect. Those whom you curse are truly cursed.

Let the curse be carried out, as in (Lam 3:66). Pursue and destroy them in anger, as they have pursued and destroyed us in their anger. Destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord, so they receive no benefit from the light and influence of the heavens. Destroy them in a way that makes everyone who sees it say, “This is destruction from the Almighty,” who sits in heaven and laughs at his enemies (Psalm 2:4), and confess that heaven rules (Daniel 4:26).

What is said of idols is here said of those who worship them, who will also be like them: they will perish from under these heavens (Jeremiah 10:11). They will be shut out not only from the joy of the unseen heavens, but also cut off from the comfort of these visible heavens, which are the Lord’s heavens (Psalm 115:16). Those who rebel against him are not fit to be taken under his protection.