Readings

Lamentations 3:1–24 (NIV84)

1I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light;
3indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.
4He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.
5He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.
7He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains.
8Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.
10Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding,
11he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.
12He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
13He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver.
14I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
15He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall.
16He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.
17I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”
19I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
20I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
21Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
22Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
23They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

Heidelberg Catechism: Lord’s Day 4, QA 9-11

QA.9 But doesn't God do us an injustice by requiring in His law what we are unable to do?

No, God created humans with the ability to keep the law.
They, however, tempted by the devil, in reckless disobedience robbed themselves and all their descendants of these gifts.

QA.10 Will God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?

Certainly not. He is terribly angry about the sin we are born with as well as the sins we personally commit. As a just judge He punishes them now and in eternity. He has declared: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."

QA.11 But isn't God also merciful?

God is certainly merciful, but He is also just.
His justice demands that sin, committed against His supreme majesty, be punished with the supreme penalty__eternal punishment of body and soul.