Overview:
Imagine the trauma of surviving a crushing military defeat that reduced your beloved city to rubble and killed almost everyone you knew. This was the experience of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet who had warned his people of the coming judgment for their idolatry. If only they had paid attention to his prophecies, they might have been spared! Loneliness and grief gripped his heart as he wandered the ravaged city. If you identify with Jeremiah’s heartache, take flight to the Savior who comforts the grieving and lonely-hearted.
Message Summary:
In this message centering on Lamentations 1, Chuck Swindoll draws a poignant parallel between the “lonely genius” of composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and the “Weeping Prophet” Jeremiah. Just as Tchaikovsky poured his depression and anguish into his music—including his famous piece “None but the Lonely Heart”—Jeremiah poured his grief into a five-chapter funeral dirge for the city of Jerusalem [7–9]. Swindoll explains that after 40 years of faithful warning and rejection, Jeremiah sat (traditionally in a cave) overlooking the city, watching the “backwash of the people’s disobedience” as they were marched into Babylonian exile [1, 9–11].
Swindoll guides the listener through the first chapter of Lamentations, where the city of Jerusalem is personified as a widow and a slave. The message emphasizes that this suffering was not fate or bad luck, but the direct consequence of sin. Swindoll warns that while God is gracious, He is also holy and jealous; when a culture abandons the “Fountain of Living Water” to dig its own “cracked cisterns,” judgment is inevitable [13–14, 19–20].
Applying this ancient text to the modern “post-Christian world,” Swindoll references the social unrest, racial prejudice, and political corruption of the times (specifically the events of 2020). He challenges believers to have two reactions to the deterioration of their culture: first, to cry (grieve deeply over the loss rather than just blaming others), and second, to stand up like the “Sons of Issachar,” understanding the times and taking action [21–26]. The sermon concludes with a story of hope about Tchaikovsky’s anonymous benefactor, illustrating how God, whom we have not yet seen, faithfully meets our needs until the day we see Him face to face [29–30].
Message Key Facts:
- Tchaikovsky’s Anguish: Swindoll opens with the life of Peter Tchaikovsky, a prolific Russian composer who battled deep depression and loneliness. He wrote “None but the Lonely Heart” (Opus 6) because he believed only the lonely could truly understand such anguish—a sentiment shared by Jeremiah [7–9].
- The “Weeping Prophet”: Jeremiah served for four decades without seeing the fruit of his ministry in changed lives. He was rejected, imprisoned, and ignored. Swindoll notes that Jeremiah’s name never appears in the book of Lamentations, but tradition and the Septuagint confirm his authorship [9–10].
- A Funeral for a City: Swindoll describes Lamentations 1 as the city of Jerusalem testifying at her own funeral. The “once” vs. “now” contrast is stark:
- Once full of people, now deserted.
- Once a queen, now a slave.
- Once great, now a widow.
- The Cause of Suffering: Swindoll stresses that the tragedy “need not have been.” It was not a result of fate, but the “harvest of one’s own rearing.” He connects this to Jeremiah 2, where the people committed two evils: abandoning God (the Living Water) and trusting in their own broken systems (cracked cisterns) [14, 19–20].
- Francis Schaeffer’s Warning: Quoting from Death in the City, Swindoll agrees that in a post-Christian world, the church must react with tears. He argues that we should be “shocked” and moved to cry when we see a culture being destroyed, rather than simply becoming angry or defensive [21–23].
- Modern Application (Savage Times): addressing the “Savage times” of the present era (racial prejudice, police controversy, political hatred), Swindoll calls the church to wake up, stand up, and speak up. He invokes the example of the Sons of Issachar, who “understood their times and knew what Israel should do” [25–27, 30].
- The Invisible Benefactor: Swindoll concludes with the story of a wealthy widow, Nadezhda von Meck, who supported Tchaikovsky for years on the condition they never meet. This allowed him to continue his work. Swindoll likens this to God, who sustains believers invisibly throughout life until they meet Him in eternity [29–30].
Message References:
- Lamentations 1: The primary text, depicting Jerusalem as a lonely widow and slave, confessing, “The Lord is righteous, for I rebelled against His command” [2–3].
- Jeremiah 2:12–13: “My people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me—the Fountain of Living Water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all” [19–20].
- 1 Chronicles 12:32: Referenced regarding the Sons of Issachar: “men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” [26–27].
- 2 Timothy 3:1 & 1 Timothy 4: Referenced regarding the prediction that in the “last days,” savage/difficult times will come.
- Romans 6:23: Referenced conceptually regarding “the wages of sin” and the consequences of disobedience.
