Readings for today: Lamentations 1-2, Philemon, Psalms 101, Proverbs 26:20
I am flying over the Atlantic Ocean right now. On a mission trip bound for Ethiopia. I will spend the next two weeks among the poorest of the poor. Men and women of whom the world is not worthy. Their suffering is unspeakable. Many of them have been beaten. Stabbed. Shot. Some have lost loved ones. Others have been imprisoned. They face hunger, thirst, disease and a host of other challenges that come along with living in the developing world. The people in the villages they serve are even worse off. They face drought. Famine. Natural disasters of various kinds. They have little to no access to healthcare or education or any of the other advantages I take for granted. Death is a constant companion. The result is a lot of despair. Depression. Hopelessness.
Lament is such an important spiritual discipline. It’s okay to grieve.It’s okay to weep. It’s okay to have one’s heart broken over the state of the world. In fact, I’ve often prayed for God to give me His eyes to see and His heart for the world but only recently have I realized that God’s eyes are full of tears and His heart is a broken one. Lament allows us to share in God’s suffering for the world. It gives us a language to express our pain and heartbreak back to our Heavenly Father who loves us so much.
The suffering of the people of Israel in the wake of the fall of Jerusalem is overwhelming. You can hear the cries of their hearts in the raw emotions of Lamentations. “She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies…Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger…For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me, one to revive my spirit; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed…Look, O Lord, for I am in distress; my stomach churns; my heart is wrung within me…” (Lamentations 1:2, 12, 16, 20) These are cries of dereliction. Cries of helplessness and hopelessness. There is nothing more bitter than the taste of utter despair.
Furthermore, they know all of this is from God. They recognize it as His divine punishment on them for their sin. “How the Lord in his anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud! He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger…The Lord has scorned his altar, disowned his sanctuary…The Lord determined to lay in ruins the wall of the daughter of Zion; he stretched out the measuring line; he did not restrain his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to lament; they languished together. Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the nations; the law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the Lord.” (Lamentations 2:1, 7-9) I can imagine nothing worse than feeling abandoned by God. To experience His wrath in place of His love. His justice in place of His mercy. To experience God as enemy rather than friend. Frankly, that sounds like hell to me.
Lamentations is a book that honors the deepest, darkest, and most desperate places of our hearts. It invites us to grieve terribly over the state of our broken human condition. It encourages us to weep. It affirms our sorrow. The book reveals a God of terrifying justice and great faithfulness. It encourages us to come humbly before God acknowledging our sin yet confident in His grace. Whatever pain, suffering, or heartbreak we may experience in this life. Self-inflicted or not. Circumstantial or not. We can cry out in all honesty to God, “But you, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations. Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days?” (Lamentations 5:19-20) And we can be just as certain He will answer our prayers. “Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old.” (Lamentations 5:21)
Readings for tomorrow: Lamentations 3, Hebrews 1, Psalms 102, Proverbs 26:21-22