Lamentations: Hope In The Midst Of Hurt

Lamentations: Hope In The Midst Of Hurt

“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” (Lam. 3:22-23 NIV ). These two well-known verses capture our gratitude for the Lord’s consistent kindness, even when we don’t deserve it! How often their truth is the response of our hearts as we experience God’s continual provision. Even when things are not going well, afterward we are able to say, “Great is Your faithfulness.” When we are able to look back and catch a glimpse of how God worked all things together for good (Rom. 8:28), including our disappointments, we are able to praise Him for His faithfulness. But what about when we are in the midst of sorrow, when we are actually feeling the hurt and can’t see how everything is working together for good? What is the response of our souls then? Can we still say that the Lord’s great love and compassions never fail? Can we still rejoice in the great faithfulness of the Lord every morning?

Hope Sought
Yes, we can hope in the midst of hurt! We not only can say, “Great is Your faithfulness,” after the suffering is over, but we can experience God’s “new every morning” compassions and faithfulness in the midst of our hurt. Lamentations clearly teaches us that such a hope is possible. The fact that these promises of God’s compassion and faithfulness are sandwiched between verses of hope (Lam. 3:21,24), and set in a context of sorrow, serves to emphasize that hope is indeed possible in the midst of hurt. And the hope of verses 21 and 24 is not just wishful thinking, but rather the confidence that God knows all about our situation and will do something because He cares for us and is committed to our well-being. Thus the main point of these verses is that confidence in God’s faithfulness and love can be realized in the very midst of sorrow, not just smooth sailing.

Lamentations, as the name implies, is a lament or funeral dirge for the conquered Jerusalem. It was written by the prophet Jeremiah soon after Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586 bc. At that time the magnificent temple, which King Solomon had built, was burned to the ground and most of the people of Judah were either killed or taken as captive. Conditions in Jerusalem were horrendous. During the long siege, in which the Babylonian armies surrounded Jerusalem and completely cut it off for over a year, disease was rampant and death was commonplace (2 Ki. 25:1-10; Ezek. 5:12). The resulting famine was so severe that some of the city’s inhabitants resorted to cannibalism, even of their children. (Lam. 3:20; 4:10; Ezek. 5:10).

After the invasion, Jeremiah was given permission to remain in Jerusalem with the few poor people left in the land (Jer. 40:1-7). No wonder he began his lament with the words, “How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations!” Jeremiah continues his lament for the forsaken city in five melancholy poems which make up the five chapters of Lamentations. Chapters 1-5 are acrostic poems – that is, each succeeding verse or set of verses in each chapter begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In each chapter, Jeremiah proceeded from “A to Z,” weeping for the desolate city of Jerusalem.

Hurts Lamented
As we read through this book of laments, we can all identify with some of the hurts mentioned. The following is a compilation of some of the sorrowful events which took place when Jerusalem was besieged and burned. Perhaps one of these tragic hurts has been your experience: being treated as an outcast (4:15); becoming an orphan (5:3); being forced to do menial labor (5:13); physical torture (5:12); being raped (5:11); losing a mate (1:1; 5:3); losing a respected position (1:1,9; 3:47; 4:3,7; 5:8); having no comforter (1:2,9,16-17,21); friends turning against you (1:2,17,19); getting no rest for body or soul (1:3,22; 2:18; 3:19,55; 5:17); realizing that happy times are over (1:4; 2:6; 5:14); seeing your children in great need (1:16; 4:4); having your children taken away (1:5); losing material possessions (1:7; 4:1,5; 5:2); being mocked and despised (1:7-8; 2:15-16; 3:14); lacking basic needs (1:11,19; 4:9; 5:4,9); having no one who understands (1:12); experiencing great emotional stress (1:20); having rivals gloat over you (1:21; 2:16; 3:46); grieving over tragic loss (2:10; 3:51); being unable to prevent your child’s death (2:11,19,22); sacrificing your children for your own welfare (3:20; 4:10); realizing that you followed false teaching (2:14); realizing that you caused desecration (mocking God) (1:10; 2:7); seeing the Lord withdraw His blessing (2:9; 3:17; 5:20); knowing you are under divine discipline (1:13; 2:1,21; 3;1-18,43; 4:6,11,16; 5:7,17).

After reading such an accumulation of hurts, it is significant that our verses of hope come in the middle of chapter 3. In the middle poem Jeremiah, under the Spirit’s leading, wrote of His confidence in the Lord’s faithfulness. Of course, Jeremiah was speaking on behalf of the small group in Judah who were faithful to God – those who acknowledged their nation’s wrongs and were looking to the Lord for help. Although these godly people were not personally guilty of the sins for which God was judging the nation, they identified with the guilty as they confessed their nation’s sin. (Lam. 1:18,20; 3:42; 5:16). Their humble attitude is a biblical model for us to follow as we pray for our own sinful nation.

Faith Sees
It is important to recognize that it wasn’t the rebellious, idolatrous population of Judah who said, “Great is Your faithfulness,” but the handful of people who had remained faithful to the Lord. The prophet Ezekiel had foretold that only a small number of the people would be left when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem (Ezek. 5:3). These few were horrified by the sin in Judah, and in Ezekiel’s vision of the destruction of Jerusalem they received God’s “mark of protection” (Ezek. 9:4). Throughout the book, we see that these faithful people were very aware that Babylon was a rod of discipline in God’s hands (Lam. 1:5,12-15; 2:17; 4:13; 5:7). And even though they had remained faithful, this godly group suffered along with those who were experiencing God’s judgment for their sins. It was in the midst of these sufferings that this faithful remnant could say God’s compassions were new every morning and His faithfulness was great.

How could they say this? Where was the evidence of God’s faithfulness? What new compassions were they experiencing every morning? Jeremiah and the few godly Jews were able to see that God was faithful to His Word. God had said again and again that He would have to discipline the nation for its sin. God was faithful to that promise. God had also declared through His prophet that He would not destroy Judah completely, even though they deserved it (Jer. 4:27; 5:10,18). And God kept that promise. Furthermore, God revealed that the nation would return from captivity in Babylon after 70 years (Jer. 25:11; 29:10). Every day the faithful remnant was still preserved, and was a day closer to the prophecy’s fulfillment. Each sunrise was a token of God’s compassion. They knew God had said that as long as the sun came up, the nation would live (Jer. 31:35-36). They also knew that the promised Messiah would come through their nation. (Jer. 23:5-6). Because of their confidence in these promises they could hope in the midst of all their hurts. They knew God had not forsaken them; He would be faithful to His Word.

God Works
How encouraging this can be! Sometimes we suffer because of our own sins and mistakes. On the other hand, sometimes we hurt because of what others have done. We hurt because of the mistakes of our parents, children, bosses, employees, teachers, students, etc. Sometimes we suffer and don’t know who to blame. In any of these cases, our study of Lamentations should be encouraging because all of the hurts mentioned there were the fallout of divine discipline. If God gave hope in that context, we can be sure He gives hope in the midst of our hurts today. If we look to the Lord’s Word, we will find hope. We do have the promise that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him” (Rom. 8:28). Certainly this includes our hurts. We also have the promise that God "works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will” (Eph. 1:11). This takes into account far more than just local events. It means that no event in the universe takes place apart from God’s control. Even the evils that God allows to exist presently are not outside the limits of His control. Nothing happens by chance! It’s all part of God’s plan. (Eph. 1:11-12). Thus God knows and controls all the sources of our hurts – past and present, natural and supernatural, good and evil (Rom. 8:38-39). God doesn’t just “pick up the pieces” and make something good out of a tragedy that could have been avoided if He was more in control of His universe. He is always in complete control whether we understand or not.

We’re Blessed
When we realize that we deserve nothing from God, yet know that He is controlling all the events in the universe, we gain a new appreciation of how great His love and faithfulness to us really are – even in the midst of our hurts. Such a realization is a direct application of Lamentations 3:22-23 to our personal lives. As we live daily in the reality of these truths, we begin to recognize some of the ways God shows His compassion in giving us family and friends as well as the beauty and solace of nature – blessings we so often take for granted. We begin to notice and recognize His “small” compassions, such as unexpected help, an encouraging note, a faithful friend, or the story of another’s overcoming suffering. We begin to thank God for a heightened awareness of His loving kindness. We begin to realize that “everything” really does mean “everything.” And even when we feel that our needs are not being met as we’d like, we can take hope in the midst of hurts because we know that God is faithfully committed to our welfare – today and forever.

Finally, we have all the biblical promises of an eternal future with our Lord in heaven. This life is only a fleeting moment compared to eternity. Today’s hurts will soon be gone. For us, there is always hope in the midst of hurt.

By David R. Reid