Israel had much to lament. It was a season for lamentation. The results of God’s anger were everywhere. The destruction is easy to catalog:

Holy cities, become a wasteland.
Zion, become a wilderness.
Jerusalem, a desolation.
That "holy and beautiful house,"
The Temple, burned by fire.
"And all our pleasant places have become ruins."

Living in the midst of this wasteland called for an incredible patience before the Lord - waiting for deliverance, waiting for return, waiting for restoration. This patience tested faith, until the lament finally turned to a call for vindication. "God, it is time to turn on the nations in vengeance. It is time for waiting to end and God’s wrath to come down."

There is a time for all of us when patience comes to an end, when the frustration finally builds to …