Charles Spurgeon Commentary Lamentations 3

I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.

Some of us remember when we used to go into our own room, shut the door, and read a chapter like this, and say, "Here is a description of my true condition." We were once broken in pieces, torn apart, through a terrible sense of sin. Our thoughts were like a case of knives perpetually pricking us, and, at such a time, these were our words as well as the words of Jeremiah, He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.

Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day. My flesh and my skin hath he made old: he hath broken my bones.

Conviction of sin seems to dry up the very sap of our life until we become withered with age. Worse than the agony of a broken bone is the pain of a broken heart. When the Holy Spirit convinces of sin, believe me, it is no child's play; in the case of some of us, it was a severe wounding.

I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

It is a mistake that most souls make when in trouble, to suppose that no others ever felt as they do. John Bunyan describes Christian as being very much comforted by hearing someone quoting Scripture as he went through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, for then he perceived that there were others in the same situation as his own.

Do not think, poor troubled soul, that no one ever was so broken in pieces as you are; your path of sorrow is a well-trodden one.

He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.

A Hebrew method of saying that it was a thick darkness without any light, either starlight or moonlight. You who have passed through this state of conviction know what it means—no comfort from ordinances, no comfort from God's Word, no comfort from your daily mercies. Every stream of comfort seems dried up to you, and sin lies heavily upon you.

I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.

This seems to be the hardest part of our lot—that God should lead us into darkness: He hath led me, and brought me into darkness.

Yet dear brothers, that is, on the other hand, the sweetest thing about our trial; because, if the darkness is in the place where God has led us, it is best for us to be in the dark. A child in the dark should derive much comfort from the thought, "My father brought me here, and he loves me so much that he would not bring me where I should be in danger; he must have had some good end and object in view in what he has done." Surely, there is something comforting to the tried child of God in that thought.