Some years ago, on the News, I was horrified to see footage of scenes of unrest unfolding in my hometown, and places I used to go, being destroyed, as yelling hordes looted shops and set fire to anything they could, as they rushed throughout the city, attacking different parts at different times. My heart immediately fled home and deep anxiety for the people heightened my horror.

 

The Bible is no stranger to the misery and tears of life; it’s filled with men and women, like us, who experienced grief, pain, rejection, fear: Hannah wept in the temple as she prayed for a child; Joseph wept in Egypt when he was reunited with his brothers; David cries out to God in his psalms; Job’s “eyes pour out tears to God” (Job 16:20) in his alienation. Peter wept when he betrayed Jesus; Mary wept at Jesus’ tomb and Jeremiah wept profusely over Jerusalem.

 

For Jeremiah, the writer of Lamentations, this grief was real. Faithfully he’d brought God’s messages, and endless warnings, to the people of Judah which they’d ignored; the time of speaking had ended and judgment had come in the form of the Babylonians. Jerusalem was in ruins, and Jeremiah was heartbroken.

 

In his lament to God, the “weeping prophet” personifies Jerusalem as an anguished mother grieving over her captured children, suffering in exile, and for those left behind, starving and in deep misery, “trading their treasures for food” (Lamentations 1:11, ESV) amidst the desolation of what was once a splendid, thriving city. The enemy had over-run Jerusalem, desecrating everything holy, and had stolen “all the precious things that were hers from days of old”. (Lamentations 1:7, ESV)

 

What a powerful image Jeremiah paints. Are we, too, not constantly fighting an enemy that wants to ruin and deprive us – body, mind and spirit – of all the things that God has provided for our good; and leave us bereft and weeping, starved of God’s blessings and alienated from those we love?

 

Even as Jeremiah laments this utter destruction and loss, and the bitter taste of betrayal by former allies (Lamentations 1:19), he gives way to self-reflection, guilt, acknowledging their national sin, then deep repentance. He recognises how they chose their own way, rejected their God, and incurred His anger. “Look, O LORD, for I am in distress; my stomach churns; my heart is wrung within me, because I have been very rebellious.” (Lamentations 1:20, ESV)

 

Continued lamenting, and deep repenting, allows the light to break through his darkness, and he remembers God’s love: “… 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 … The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” (Lamentations 3:21-24)

 

Life is never easy; everyone lives with the consequences of sin – our own, and that of others. But when life falls apart, remember … and hope.

 

Prayer: Loving Father, when “joy is gone from our hearts” and the “crown has fallen from our head” (Lamentations 5:15-16) help us to repent and remember that because of Your “great love we are not consumed, for [Your] compassions never fail.” Thank You that “they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” and You “are my portion…” and “therefore, I will wait for [You].’’ Amen