“You have wrapped yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.” – Lamentations 3:44
Lamentations …
It’s a great title.
This is exactly what you get –
five poems lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem.
Lamentations …
It’s an honest cry.
It’s the book that wonders where God is
when bad things are happening.
“You have wrapped yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.” – Lamentations 3:44
Will God ever feel close again?
The question is real;
it still is.
We won’t find easy answers in these poems.
We’ll find lament.
There is comfort in lament.
This needs to be said again.
There is comfort in lament.
You will find that the poet is a singer of sorrows,
and the poems are anguished wailings.
And while it seems that God is wrapped in a cloud
and no prayer passes through,
there is actually a brief moment when
there is something to hold onto —
Steadfast love, never ceasing,
constant mercies, never coming to an end;
they are new every morning. (Lamentations 3:23,24)
Lament, faithfully rendered
makes space
for
hope.
“There are times when it feels no prayer can pass through.” When have you felt that kind of distance and what did you do with it?
Lamentation does not rush to resolve the pain. What might it mean for you to name sorrow honestly, without trying to fix it?
In uncertainty or grief, Lamentations assures readers that a small thread of hope appears. What is one small thing you can hold onto when everything feels uncertain? You might choose to cut a length of thread or yarn and carry or put it somewhere to remind you to notice small threads of hope within and around.
The thread of hope we can hold on to – God’s overarching faithfulness – we know He knows – trust, hold on, be honest, seek to learn, wait … (speaking to myself)
I haven’t read Lamentations for ages! Yes, I’ve gladly sung “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases …” without a thought that this declaration was written in the midst of such sorrow and anguish. My heart go out to all those suffering as I read this book. And oh that I might hear and follow/love the King of Kings in honesty and obedience.
I’ve just read it right through, encouraged by the reminder that the first four chapters were alphabetic acrostics (with a stanza for each of he 22 letters of the Hebrew language) and that chapter 5 has 22 verses. And also encouraged by the style of writing – that even in English translation, a regular ‘limping’ meter is recognisable. Scripture is so rich.
Even clouds eventually dissipate …