Lamentations 1:3
“After years of pain and hard labor, Judah has gone into exile. She camps out among the nations, never feels at home. Hunted by all, she’s stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
“Judah has been led away into captivity, oppressed with cruel slavery. She lives among foreign nations and has no place of rest. Her enemies have chased her down, and she has nowhere to turn.”
The Message places Israel’s pain and hard labor before exile. The NLT does it after. The NLT’s rendering makes sense but there is a good lesson in The Message. Rebellion engenders consequences and Israel suffered many before the ultimate, exile. They were like open wounds in society as she repeatedly hit her head against a wall. They were a foretaste of that to come. Yes, Israel suffered before her exile.
Hunted and chased, there was no escaping the consequences of her sins. It is terrifying to be completely in the hands of another where nothing you can do will change your circumstances. Still, Israel trusted God. He sustained her in exile and brought her home in his perfect time.
Lord, blind trust is hard. Give me grace to trust when my heart is quaking in my shoes; when feelings way otherwise.