He wove my sins into ropes to hitch me to a yoke of captivity. The Lord sapped my strength and gave me to my enemies; I am helpless in their hands.  Lamentations 1:14 (NLT)

Lamentations is a short book that appears after Jeremiah. It is said that it was written by the prophet Jeremiah after the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians.

When the Israelites came to Canaan, the different tribes divided up the land – each tribe taking land that suited them. The farmers took the flat land, the ranchers took good grazing land, and the merchants took land on the trade routes. The tribes of Benjamin and Judah took land in the southern part of Canaan, and over the years they combined to form the country of Judah with its capital in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem would have been similar to an exciting New York City – filled with noise, activity, and the hustle and bustle of people with places to go and things to see. Unfortunately, similar to children who become caught up in their own doings, they started to think that they were in charge of their own lives, and they began to forget God.

God sent prophets to remind his people of his presence, but people don’t always want to listen to others telling them that they’re wrong. God tried to tell the people in charge of his churches, but they were having too much fun being in charge and didn’t want to listen to him.

At one time, when I was in grade school, I belonged to Girl Scouts. My mom was the leader of our troop, and we learned a lot but enjoyed the activities. On one memorable Girl Scout Sunday, another member of our troop was in Sunday School with me and, when Sunday School was over, the idea was that I would meet my folks for church. It turned out that there was a program at another church a block away and my friend told me that she was supposed to go to this other church, and I should go with her. “Not to worry,” she said. “Your folks will know where you are!” Needless to say, my folks had no idea where I was and, when I went back to my church after the program, my folks were not happy with me.

I think about that when I read about Jerusalem being sent into exile. It isn’t that we intend to do wrong. We just start down an exciting path and get so wrapped up in it that we don’t pay attention to what we’re doing. The next thing we know, something happens to stop us in our tracks. We get sent to our rooms, we get a swat or a lecture, or we get exiled to Babylon. Luke hits the nail on the head when he talks in Acts 7 about being a “stiff-necked and stubborn people.”

Becky Gillette is a former teacher, newspaper reporter, and preacher who seeks to take an original approach to life’s lessons. Her first book, Jessie’s Corner: Something To Think About, is now available for purchase. Based on several lesser-known scriptures from the Bible, this is a collection of articles which she wrote for a weekly newspaper.