Lamentations
Lament. Verb: To express grief for or about; to mourn. To regret deeply. To grieve audibly; to wail.
It is not often in our daily Christian walk we choose to think about this word lament and yet the Bible has an entire book in the old testament titled “Lamentations.” As you read through the first two chapters of this book it is filled with grief: remembering days of old, of how great Jerusalem was. And then in chapter two there is even lament towards God “The Lord rejected his own altar; he despised his own sanctuary. He has given Jerusalem’s palaces to her enemies.” We have all at one point or another felt like even God himself has turned his back on us.
And then we find ourselves at chapter three verses 19 through 26:
The thought of my suffering and homelessness
is bitter beyond words.
I will never forget this awful time,
as I grieve over my loss.
Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”
The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.
So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord.
“The faithful love of the Lord never ends.”
Amen
May the hope of the Lord and Salvation be with you and your family this Christmas season.
Matthew Grzybowski