Thursday
Read: Lamentations 4
SOAP: Lamentations 4:17
Our eyes continually failed us
as we looked in vain for help.
From our watchtowers we watched
for a nation that could not rescue us.
Devotion
While yesterday’s reading from Lamentations 3 provided some form of relief and hope, we are brought back to the hard reality of inhumane suffering in chapter four. The Babylonians invaded Jerusalem, hunted its people, and led captives away. They destroyed even more of the cities in Judah, leaving the region in total devastation and its remaining people in sub-human degradation. The author of the book continues to lament over the circumstances surrounding him, and we continue to learn and practice lament alongside him.
Judah looked “in vain for help” as they begged the nation of Egypt for assistance, but Egypt withdrew and left Judah to suffer the Babylonian invasion.
How often do we look for help in all the wrong places, and in vain? Our eyes get tired, we become discouraged, and in the end, we realize none of the things we looked to can save us. Perhaps we, too, have had friends and mentors like the prophet Jeremiah, telling us to look to the Lord, turn to Him, and ask for help, but we refused. It seemed too insignificant to talk to the Lord about it, or perhaps we didn’t quite know how to approach God about what was on our hearts.
We can find ourselves with this attitude when it comes to lament. We don’t understand what is happening, we see no hope, and we feel like God is silent. We want to scream and ask “Why?! How long, O Lord?!” but we aren’t quite sure whether such outbursts are appropriate when speaking to the Creator of heaven and earth.
The practice of lament paves a way for a burdened, suffering heart to approach the throne of grace. It not only allows but even encourages the believer to come to the Lord, the Creator and Sustainer of all things, and share our complaints. He is our Heavenly Father, and He loves His children deeply.
We admit to looking for help in all the wrong places, and we repent. We remember who God is and proclaim, yet again, His holiness regardless of our circumstances. God is true, and what He says is true. The suffering around us can be overwhelming; the right response is faith in the Lord who is in control of it all. We can praise Him for giving us a voice in such times—the voice and practice of lament.