Why could the opening lines of Lamentations 5 be described as one of the most insistent prayers in the Old Testament?

It is especially the series of imperatives in Lamentations 5:1, namely, remember, look, and see, that makes this prayer so insistent and intense.¹ The people are praying urgently, bringing their petitions to God that he would act with respect to their unbearable situation. The first imperative, remember, refers to more than a mere recall of something in the past. It is a plea for God’s action and intervention (see also Lamentations 3:19).² Often in the history of Israel, when God remembers, it is the beginning of his redemptive action towards them (see Exodus 2:24; Psalm 74:18, Psalm 74:22; Psalm 89:50).³ This appeal is intensified by the subsequent imperatives, look and see.⁴