In the Midst of Grief


Lamentations 3:22-33

The first few verses of this passage are the words of a popular camp song. They extol the wondrous love of God. They rejoice in his goodness toward his people. They are words of contentment in the presence of the Lord. In our Wednesday night singing last week, one person remarked that they like the happy, upbeat songs. The words of this verse in song form certainly fit such a description. How great the goodness of God towards us which spurs us to trust in him even more!
You would be forgiven, then, for not knowing that these words come from the book of Lamentations. This is the book which begins, “How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become…She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave. She weeps bitterly in the night…” (Lam 1:1-2). Suffice it to say, this book is not a happy one. It is a book all about the people of Israel crying over their fate as they have been forsaken by God and sent into exile. Their sin had become so great that the Lord removed his hand of blessing from them, and so they lost all of the good things that they had received from him. Their oil of gladness had become bitter gall. They were in the depths of the pits, in sackcloth and ashes.
So, why do we find these words of hope in the midst of Lamentations? Well, the author realized that the time of affliction was a moment which eventually would pass. The Israelites were receiving the consequences of their actions, but God would return to them. This is the same God whose name is “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” (Exod 34:6-7). God certainly does punish sin, but his love and mercy extend much further than his punishment. This is the God who promised that he would be faithful to his people, Israel. It is an appropriate time to be in mourning, to grieve over their transgressions and the affliction which has come upon Israel, but God has said that this period of sadness would not be the end.
Our Bible class this morning covered the latter half of Romans 8, and it is there that Paul touches upon a similar theme. We live in the midst of a world of suffering, a place where there are trials and afflictions which come against us and bring us grief. We and all creation are groaning for release from the physical bondage which this fallen world has over us. In the midst of that trouble, though, we can remember that God is not finished and that he still is with us. We are in a momentary period where it is appropriate to grieve over the pain and losses which we experience; but even in this time, let us remember that God is not done. His steadfast love never ceases, regardless of whether we see this truth. We look forward in hope to that time when God will remove us from our time of lamentation and bring us to the time of eternal rejoicing. -TL

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