A Brief Book Notice from Books At a Glance
This from the renowned Old Testament scholar, Walter Kaiser, is both a commentary on the book of Lamentations and a primer on the biblical teaching regarding personal suffering – a very helpful resource for both!
Table of Contents
1 Coping with Grief
2 Taking Suffering Personally
3 Finding Hope in the Face of Adversity
4 Putting a Name to Pain
5 Remembering that God Still Reigns
Conclusion: Suffering in the Old Testament
Quote & Unquote
- “The most comforting news Scripture has for the sufferer is that where pain, grief, and hurt are, there is God.” (14)
- “We conclude that Jeremiah was the author of all five dirges in Lamentations and that he composed those poems shortly after the city of Jerusalem had fallen in 587 B.C., while the memory of the horrors was still fresh and vivid in his mind.” (29)
- “One of the reasons Lamentations is so effective in its ministry to those who are suffering is that it deals head-on with the anger of God.” (59)
- “…suffering is an intensely personal experience. And in retributive suffering (suffering for offenses done) it is especially personal since in it I face up to the anger of God.” (59)
- “Lamentations 3 is distinctive, both in form and content, from all the other chapters in the book. It holds the middle position and functions as the culmination and central affirmation of the whole book.” (75)
- “Was there and does there continue to be any hope for those who face adversity? There is! And He, our Lord, is all our hope and stay. He is loving, He is merciful, and He is faithful. Great is His faithfulness!” (96)
- “[The prayer of chapter five] is this final touch that gives unity and completes the book, for when all is said and done we rest our case for relief and healing from suffering when we commit it to God in prayer.” (109)
- “Of course God can never forget or reject His people, for He has pledged on His life and character that He will perform all that He has promised to do. Thus the book ends on the grand note that our God reigns. He has been and will continue to be faithful, merciful, and full of gracious-love. The Lord, not suffering, grief, or pain, is our portion.” (119)
Buy the books
A BIBLICAL APPROACH TO PERSONAL SUFFERING, by Walter C. Kaiser