Lamentations

I struggle with writing words about painful experiences. Are we not supposed to dwell on the positive?

Philippians 4:8 says Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Why broadcast my pain and heartache to the world? Has not the Lord healed me? Is there a basis for grieving in the bible? If so what is that basis?

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 says There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: (2) a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, (3) a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, (4) a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

Weeping, laughing, mourning, and dancing… What is appropriate? When is the season? What does it look like to mourn? When does mourning turn into brooding? When does grief turn into bitterness?

My mind turns to the “greats” in the bible who mourned… the ones who poured our their grief before the Lord… the ones who lamented great tragedy and yet their hearts did not turn from the Lord.

Jeremiah was called the “weeping prophet.” He wrote a series of poems which are now called Lamentations. He grieved his own personal tragedy but more then that he grieved the fallen city of Jerusalem. He grieved the fallen condition of the heart of man. Yet through it all, he remained in the posture of a man who knew that all of the things the Lord did were GOOD.

The city was broken and yet that is what had to happen. It had to happen to make a way for the ONE to come and restore man to true communion with God.

I believe every tragedy we experience in our lives are making a way for God to move. Every heartache we experience is making a way for God to reveal himself to us or someone else. When I see God moving in someone else’s life, I STILL SEE GOD.

When I experience pain and heartache, I have a choice to make. I can either become bitter and resentful toward God or I can make the choice to believe that God has a plan and a purpose for my pain. The refining fire is painful most of the time but the purpose of the fire is to bring out the best in me.

What about you? Do painful circumstances in your life make you press in harder toward the Lord to try and get a glimpse of his hand in it OR do you dwell in your grief and become distant from the one who would show you the way to TRUE peace?

Where is the line between heart felt cries to the Lord and bitter lamentations?

2 Corinthians 7:10 says Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

Godly sorrow recognizes that salvation comes from the Lord alone. Your sorrow, your pain over wrongs done to you should lead you to a place where you recognize that all men have evil veiling their good hearts and that evil is no respecter of persons. Evil does not seek out the guilty… evil seeks to destroy the innocent. The turning point comes when you recognize that you have evil in your own heart and that your sin is no different from the sin that the person who wronged you has committed. This Godly sorrow LEADS to repentance.

If you surrender yourself to the process and believe the LORD wants to heal you, you will see the Lord’s hand on your life.

Worldly sorrow is a perpetual carousel of replaying that grief over and over again. To dwell in that place without the purpose of seeking the Lord’s hand in it… to stay in a place of asking whys but not wanting to hear the answers…. That is a path that leads to death.

Do you want to hear why God allowed pain in your life? Do you want to know why the innocent suffer and evil men seem to prosper on this earth? Do you want to know why, if God is loving God, why does he not simply make everything RIGHT again? Do you want to know why followers of Christ seem to be dealt a double portion of grief?

Do you truly want the answers to these questions?

There ARE biblical answers but if you are drowning in a worldly sorrow, you probably do not want to hear the answers. Godly sorrow seeks to find the true answers to those questions rather than wallowing in a sea of bitterness and self-pity. And yet even in seeking the answers, there is still pain.

THAT is why I write about painful experiences because you need to have permission to ask the hard questions. God is not scared to hear your cries… any of your cries… He wants you to seek the truth in this place. He wants you to press into the hard stuff so that you can be healed. He doesn’t just want you to sweep it under the rug.

He wants you to hate injustice and seek to expose lies and proclaim truth.

That is what I am here to say: There is a wealth of injustice in the world. The truth is that God is good and he wants to heal you.

Lamentations 3:18-26 So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD." (19) I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. (20) I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. (21) Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: (22) Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. (23) They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (24) I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." (25) The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; (26) it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.