In Lamentations 2, the Scripture says that the daughter of Zion is under a cloud. That caught my attention because of the Scriptures that talk about God being behind a cloud. In Psalm 18 it talks about God using thick clouds to cover Him that thick clouds shielded the brightness of who He is. When we ask the Lord’s blessing, we pray that He would make His face shine upon us. We want the light of His countenance on us. We want to walk in the light. He’s the light. We want to walk in His light. We want to walk in Christ. We don’t want Him hidden from us. We don’t want Him behind the cloud. We don’t want a cloud between us. We don’t want to see the darkness. We want to see the light of His countenance. When you choose to walk in sin, you are choosing to walk in the darkness. You are choosing to put something between you and God. You are choosing separation from God. You are choosing to step out of the light. It’s the light that gives us fellowship, that gives us cleansing, that gives us righteousness, that allows us to walk in the favor of God’s grace. Choosing sin is rejecting God’s grace.

Another judgement against them is that God would withdraw His right hand. His right hand saves us, delivers us, helps us, upholds us, holds us fast. To have God withdraw His hand is to turn us over to our enemies, to refuse to save and deliver. To choose sin is to reject His salvation. Choosing sin thinking He’ll just forgive you isn’t acknowledging His salvation. It’s rejecting His salvation.

After all the destruction, there is a picture of the elders sitting on the ground in silence. They are wearing sackcloth and have thrown dust on their heads. What are they doing? Mourning? Maybe. But they are humbling themselves. What is humility? It’s being reliant on God. Humility is being empty of self-reliance and being wholly reliant on God. They were helpless to save themselves and they finally were admitting it. Their other gods weren’t cutting it by this point. There was none to save, not even themselves. They needed to acknowledge that sooner.

We need to acknowledge our need for God moment to moment, not just in crisis after all else has failed. God should be our first thought, not last resort.

Jerusalem used to be called “the perfection of beauty.” That’s who you are supposed to be in Christ, perfect, beautiful, spotless, blameless. That’s your identity in Christ. See yourself in that light, in the perfect light of Christ, and walk in its truth.