Ezekiel 4:14-15
[14] Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth.”
[15] “Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human excrement.”
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Lamentations 3:14-45
[14] I became the laughingstock of all my people;
they mock me in song all day long.
[15] He has filled me with bitter herbs
and given me gall to drink.
[16] He has broken my teeth with gravel;
he has trampled me in the dust.
[17] I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
[18] So I say, “My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”
[19] I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
[20] I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
[21] Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
[22] Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
[23] They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
[24] I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
[25] The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
[26] it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
[27] It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
[28] Let him sit alone in silence,
for the Lord has laid it on him.
[29] Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
[30] Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.
[31] For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.
[32] Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
[33] For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.
[34] To crush underfoot
all prisoners in the land,
[35] to deny people their rights
before the Most High,
[36] to deprive them of justice—
would not the Lord see such things?
[37] Who can speak and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it?
[38] Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?
[39] Why should the living complain
when punished for their sins?
[40] Let us examine our ways and test them,
and let us return to the Lord.
[41] Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven, and say:
[42] “We have sinned and rebelled
and you have not forgiven.
[43] “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us;
you have slain without pity.
[44] You have covered yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can get through.
[45] You have made us scum and refuse
among the nations.
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God bless and best regards,
Bro. Rontabs
