Choose Life

Monday, August 17, 2026 | Amber Harper

Lamentations 1-2

Do you remember where you were on September 11, 2001? Of course you do. It was one of those moments none of us could forget. I was on my way home from class when I heard about it on the radio. When I got home, it was all over the news.

Do you remember the destruction? Smoke filled the sky. There was chaos, confusion, fear, and terror. The sheer evil that had taken place was almost impossible to comprehend.

This is what I envision when I read about the destruction of Jerusalem.

The author of Lamentations grieves over a city that was once beautiful and great. “How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations!” (Lamentations 1:1). Jerusalem was weeping, without comfort, overtaken by enemies, desolate, afflicted, sinful, filthy, hungry, sorrowful, weak, and rejected.

My heart is saddened to the point of grieving my own sin when I read those words.

Deuteronomy 28 warned that sin would bring devastation, and Jerusalem experienced exactly what God had warned them about. The people chosen to be a light had become darkened, and the Lord was exercising His just judgment.

“For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23).

Pause and consider those words describing Jerusalem. Do any describe you? I know they have described me. Many of us have brought destruction into our own lives through our choices.

But destruction does not have to be the end of our story.

“Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord!” (Lamentations 2:19).

Come.

“The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Sin destroys. Jesus restores. Sin enslaves. Jesus sets us free. Sin leads to death. Jesus offers life.

Come. Repent. Receive His grace. Choose life.