3 I am the man who has seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath.
2 He has driven me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
3 Surely against me He has turned His hand
Repeatedly all the day.
4 He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away,
He has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.
6 In dark places He has made me dwell,
Like those who have long been dead.
7 He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my [a]chain heavy.
8 Even when I cry out and call for help,
He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.
11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.
As this chapter begins, we see things from the perspective of those in Judah who were punished for their wicked deeds. This is not someone random afflicted by God, but a people who had been given God’s word, His instructions, and then rebelled against Him. More than that, despite repeated warnings (see all of Jeremiah and Isaiah), the refused to listen to God and hardened their hearts.
So now we find them walking in darkness rather than light, besieged with hardship, unable to cry out to God and finding only crooked paths on which to walk. In many ways, these verses contrast with others written by earlier kings. Solomon wrote, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” (Prov. 3:6) His father David wrote this in Psalm 61, “Hear my cry, O God… For You have been a refuge for me, A tower of strength against the enemy.”
How can this be the same God; who makes paths straight (or crooked) and who heard the cries of David, but not of His descendants long after? Verse 10 reminds me of The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis, involving two children, along with the uncle of one–a self-described “magician”. They are transported to the very beginning of the world of Narnia–along with a witch who proclaims herself Queen of Charn, a London cabby, and his horse
The children, in awestruck wonder, watch as a beautiful lion (Aslan, an allegorical figure for Jesus, Son of the King) sings an ever changing song (you really have to read the book to get the full effect). Aslan walks side to side, and as He walks and sings, flowers and grass appear and grow, trees spring up from the once-barren ground, and all is filled with the wonder of new life. In the middle of this, they witness an iron rod, tossed by the aforementioned witch at the lion, grown into a full lamp post.
Yet the uncle sees all of this and thinks only of what he could profit from such a land, and how to rid the land of this horrible roaring lion. See, he can’t hear the singing, or appreciate the glory and splendor awakened by Aslan, because he has convinced himself that it is “just a lion” and nothing more. He no longer sees the connection between the song and each new thing that is given life.
In the same way, the people of Israel had forgotten the goodness of God, and all they had left was a bunch of restrictive rules that no one wanted to follow. So they all went their own way, indeed the opposite way from all that was good and glorious, and lost all the blessings God had given them. Ultimately, they lost even the land that God had promised to Abraham and were exiled to Babylon.
This is not a thing of the past, and if anything, it is more prevalent today. God’s Word is available to more people than ever before, and yet so many see only rules and regulations. They (and we) can completely miss the point, which is God’s story of redemption, motivated by love and His everlasting goodness. One might ask if there is any hope for someone in this predicament, and if one is asking the question, then the answer is yes.
You have to want God to be more than doom and judgment, in order to see more of Him. To see the grandeur in creation, that shouts the glory of God louder than anything else, we have to have a desire for Him. Fortunately for us, God planted that seed in our hearts long ago, and nothing else will satisfy that longing but Him. He’s stacked the deck in our favor, but only a willing heart can find hope. God will not force His love on us, for it cannot be love if it is demanded.
Listen for His song, let your heart find hope in the vision and majesty of the good things God. Don’t harden your heart any longer, but open it up to see the life that God has promised for all who believe in Him. As God inspired John to write so long ago, “16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His [e]only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” Accept it, believe it, live it!