I was feeling a bit overwhelmed the other day. Life had me pinned in a corner and the ref didn’t see me trying to tap out. I started looking through scriptures to find passages that could helped me digest my feelings.
I started reading Lamentations 3. I have not spent a lot of time reading Lamentations. It is not a book I know well. Daniel, I’ve read many times – it’s my favourite. But Lamentations, no.
I got about 20 verses into this chapter and I thought, “Holy smokes, this is a bit over the top.” Modern man seems to feel the need to curb our sense of self-pity. I will cry and feel sorry for myself for a bit, but I put parametres around it and often start to think of others who are worse off. At this point in the chapter there didn’t seem to be any breaks or boundaries. Just full out cries of anger and despair, blaming God.
About 20 verses in the tone shifts. Even in the face of this suffering and wailing God is still good. God is still worth waiting on. I’m not sure what lesson to take from this. There are obvious cultural differences as well as the deeper meaning of the book as a whole with which to grapple.
Maybe it helps me see that we can cry out to God, he’s big enough to take it!
Lamentations 3: 24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
Roberta Writes 