LAMENTATIONS: the Hopeful Lament

And then, there’s Lamentations.

Not too many sermons being preached out there on Lamentations. It’s one of those books that you often find hasn’t been read and then you read it for the first time and become shockingly aware that there is some really dark stuff in the Bible.

Jerusalem has sinned greatly
    and so has become unclean.
All who honored her despise her,
    for they have all seen her naked;
she herself groans
    and turns away.

Her filthiness clung to her skirts;
    she did not consider her future.
Her fall was astounding;
    there was none to comfort her.
“Look, Lord, on my affliction,
    for the enemy has triumphed.”

The book of Lamentations is just that — lament. It’s real and it’s raw and it’s a painful cry of sorrow to a distant God who seems to have forsaken the people He so dearly loves.

“Look, Lord, and consider:
    Whom have you ever treated like this?
Should women eat their offspring,
    the children they have cared for?
Should priest and prophet be killed
    in the sanctuary of the Lord?

“Young and old lie together
    in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women
    have fallen by the sword.
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
    you have slaughtered them without pity.

Like I said, not too many sermons being prepared to exegete these passages. And yet, I find it interesting to note that the Bible makes space for this kind of emotion. As we’ve stated before, the Bible doesn’t seem to waste time creating spaces for all people to connect with the presence of God. This isn’t a book that refuses to speak to those who mourn. It’s not a book that demands you get your act together and put a smile on your face first. There’s space for the lament.

For those who have never heard that before — and need to — I’ll say it again: There is space for the lament. It’s okay.

But then, there is the academic conversation that surrounds the book of Lamentations. Each chapter of the five-chapter book is an alphabetic acrostic. That means that each line of the poetic lament starts with a letter from the Hebrew alphabet. It’s quite poetic and intentional, but that’s not all. The first and second chapters have 22 verses each (there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet). The third chapter has 66 verses, and the fourth and fifth chapters have 22 each.

22
22
66
22
22

And if you already guessed it — well done. The book is also chiastic. Lamentations is a chiastic, alphabetic acrostic.

And the center of the book is just a stunning prophetic message for the people witnessing the destruction of their city by Nebuchadnezzar:

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.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
    therefore I will wait for him.”

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
    to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man to bear the yoke
    while he is young.

Let him sit alone in silence,
    for the Lord has laid it on him.
Let him bury his face in the dust—
    there may yet be hope.
Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
    and let him be filled with disgrace.

For no one is cast off
    by the Lord forever.
Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
    so great is his unfailing love.
For he does not willingly bring affliction
    or grief to anyone.

To crush underfoot
    all prisoners in the land,
to deny people their rights
    before the Most High,
to deprive them of justice—
    would not the Lord see such things?

“… there may yet be hope.”

To those lost in despair.

“… his compassions never fail … there may yet be hope … so great is his unfailing love.”

These are the promises we cling to when we find ourselves in captivity. They are promises of hope. We cling to the idea that death and despair and injustice don’t get the last word. We hope that God’s story doesn’t end with hopelessness and lament. We hope that the lament — while real and raw and vulnerable — doesn’t represent God’s deepest hope for the world. Lamentations invites us to ask ourselves what we really believe to be true about the world. What do we think lives on at the end of the day? What is the greatest reality? What really triumphs? Does darkness and destruction win? Does despair capture our heart? Or do we wake up tomorrow morning believing that there is something bigger — something better — going on in the world? Things are being redeemed. God is not as far off as we might think.

God’s not done with us, yet.

“… so great is His unfailing love …”