The joy of our heart is ceased; Our dance is turned into mourning.
"The joy of our heart is ceased"  (Lamentations 5:15).  "At last the community have come to realize the deep significance of her sin by its consequences."[15]  Today if sinners walking in their own lustful ways in rebellion against the moral government of God Himself could only realize the eternal consequences of their sins, no doubt some of them, at least, would renounce the works of the flesh and obey the gospel of the Son of God. The failure of the modern pulpit to stress the true consequences of wickedness is part of the reason behind prevalent iniquity.  The same reticence of the ancient prophets of the people of God to stress this same fact was also part of the reason for Israel's shameful apostasy.