Readings for today: Lamentations 1:1-3:36
Lament is an invitation from God to bring Him our grief and sorrow, our pain and suffering, our doubts and confusion, our fears and anxieties. Prayers of lament can be focused on the individual or the community. The Book of Psalms contains plenty of prayers where the Psalmist cries out to God for example. The Book of Lamentations, however, is one long prayer of lament from Jeremiah over the death of the holy city of Jerusalem. It is not an easy read. The language is raw and real. The pain and grief is right at the surface for the prophet as he weeps over the destruction of his people and his way of life.
Lament is also a prayer of hope. A prayer prayed from the deepest, darkest recesses of our souls to the only One who can deliver us. It’s a primal cry. When life is stripped down to the studs and we have nothing left. It’s a cry made when we’ve reached the end of ourselves and are sitting in the dust and ashes of what’s left of our lives. When everyone has abandoned us, even those closest to us, and we find ourselves feeling all alone. In such moments - and I’ve had such moments - we find God waiting for us there. It’s powerful. It’s transformative. And it’s why in the midst of our lament, we begin to find hope.
This is what happens to Jeremiah. As he literally sits in the dust and ashes of the city he loves, surrounded by the death and destruction of the people he loves, having witnessed firsthand the horrors of war, rejected by everyone; he finds God waiting for him there. He finds God more than willing to meet him there. He finds God sitting with him in that place and his hopes are renewed. “Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness! I say, “The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks him. It is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord…For the Lord will not reject us forever. Even if he causes suffering, he will show compassion according to the abundance of his faithful love. For he does not enjoy bringing affliction or suffering on mankind.” (Lamentations 3:22-26, 31-33 CSB)
Hope for the believer is not wishful thinking. It is not blind to reality. It does not close its eyes to all the evil and injustice and suffering and pain in our world. It simply looks beyond those things to God. To the One who is faithful. To the One who pours out new mercies every morning. To the One who is good. To the One who rewards those who seek Him. To the One who answers those who wait for Him. To the One who shows compassion and steadfast love to the thousandth generation. This is why Jeremiah holds onto hope and it’s we can have hope as well.
Readings for tomorrow: Lamentations 3:37-5:22