Lamentations 3:19-26
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
–Matthew 27:46
Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.
–Rabindranath Tagore
The Old Testament book of Lamentations describes what it is like to exercise faith amid immense suffering. It is written as a series of five poems lamenting the misery resulting from the destruction of Jerusalem and Judea by the Babylonian army around 600 B.C.
The Babylonians destroyed the Temple, the King’s palace, and the city walls. Many people died. People were living in the streets because Babylonian soldiers had taken over their houses. Many were forcibly removed to other lands. Those who remained in Judea were starving. The social, economic, cultural, and religious structures of society had collapsed.
We read in texts deserving of “trigger warnings”:
“Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die by famine.” “All her people groan as they search for bread.” “Their skin has shriveled on their bones, wracked by hunger they are wasting away.” “Children beg for bread, but no one gives it to them. “They faint in the streets.” “Infants’ lives ebb away in their mothers’ arms.” “Compassionate women have cooked their own children for food.”
“Women have been violated, princes hung by their hands, older people beaten, and young men put to work as slaves.”
One of the shocking things about the Scriptures is their truthfulness. Here in Lamentations the reality of human misery is unsentimentally presented. Human beings have suffered throughout history in the ways described in this book of the Bible.
We look to Scripture for encouragement and hope in the challenges that we face. And Scripture provides hope, even here in Lamentations. Before he can embrace hope, though, the Lamentations poet expresses despair and anger. He rages at Babylon, at corrupt leaders, and even at God.
The poet struggles in confusion to understand God’s role in what has happened. “The Lord is like an enemy,” he writes, “He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for Judah.” But in another verse he says, “God does not willingly bring affliction and grief to human beings,” contradicting his despairing cries blaming God for Israel’s misery.
We too struggle at times to understand. The New Testament tells us that God doesn’t cause our suffering. We know that the world is broken and that bad things sometimes happen to good people. That’s the reality of life in our fallen world. Yet we still wonder why God doesn’t rescue us. “Even when I call out and cry for help, God shuts out my prayer,” the poet laments. “You have wrapped yourself in a cloud so that no prayer can pass through” he reproaches God.
Jesus shows us that God isn’t unhearing and uncaring. That’s not what God is like. But that’s how things looked and how the poet understandably felt. The book of Lamentations expresses the poet’s cry of anguish. Lamentations depicts humanity’s heartbroken howl in the midst of devastation.
It’s not a sin to express anger to God and wonder where he is and what he’s doing. Lament is a faithful expression of our relationship with God. That’s because we’re bringing our hurt to God. We’re engaging God intimately in our distress.
Lamentations shows us the depths of human pain and suffering. But it also shows us the possibility of faith and hope in the worst of times. At one point, the poet writes: “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him.” Amid horrific circumstances, the poet finds that he is able to choose faith and hope.
One of my favorite stories in Scripture is about David when David was living in the city of Ziklag. He is on the run from King Saul, who wants to kill him. One day when David and his men were away, the Amalekites raided Ziklag. They burned down the city and abducted their wives and children.
David’s men were on the verge of stoning David for the loss of their families. But Scripture says that “David encouraged himself in the Lord.” Even before God told him that their families and possessions would be rescued, David chose faith over fear. By God’s grace, so can we.
Some years ago, I would often wake up in the middle of the night full of fear. I was fearful that a second tragedy would happen to my family. Night after night I struggled.
Then one night I felt God speak to me, not in an audible voice, but in my spirit. I felt God telling me that I didn’t need to experience this anxiety. That by God’s grace I could make the choice to stop fearing and to trust God. I could choose faith and hope.
God wasn’t promising that the circumstances would change, at least not right away. Nor was he guaranteeing a happy outcome. The future remained uncertain. But with God’s help, I could choose faith over fear. So I did, and my nightly anxiety disappeared. God gives us the power to choose faith over fear in hard times.
Nevertheless, the faith and hope in God which the poet expresses in Lamentations wasn’t the end of his struggle. He swings back and forth, sometimes doubting and blaming God, and sometimes expressing faith in God’s love and mercy.
Likewise, for us, choosing faith may not be a “one and done” kind of thing. We too may need to reaffirm faith again and again during difficult times.
Even Jesus called out in anguish on the cross. Quoting Psalm 22, he cried “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” At that moment Jesus’ emotions screamed abandonment.
Yet despite the devastating circumstances, and what he was feeling, Jesus made the choice to believe that God hadn’t truly forsaken him. He chose to affirm that God was with him then and always. In that confidence Jesus said to God, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” At a moment on the cross Jesus felt abandoned by God, as we sometimes do. Yet, by God’s grace, he embraced faith over feelings, hope over fear. And like Jesus, so can we.
Because, as the poet of Lamentations exclaims, “The compassions of the Lord never fail. They are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness.”
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