Do you think it is wrong to lament? Have you ever been so depressed that you thought there was no good end possible? I have not but my wife Laura experience this feeling for many years. What have you done or what did you encourage your loved one to do? Was it successful? I pray that yours was or is successful because mine ended in tragedy. There was only one way that I made it through to this point. Let me share with you what I learned.
You probably looked at this title and said that I must have gone mad. You may wonder as I have how can deep sorrow and pain be affected by lamentations. The dictionary defines lamentation as “the passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weeping.” It is in understanding the definition that I find hope. Notice that is the expression of how you feel about grief, sorrow or it is weeping, not just crying it is weeping like Jesus wept in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jeremiah expresses the proper way to lament. His lament is in the form of expressing his pain to God and understanding as he looked to God there is hope. He starts out by expressing his feelings to God. I look at some of the phrase and see great sorrow; bereft of peace, endurance has perished. He then calls into his memory all that God has done for him and as a result he has hope. H ends with acknowledging who God is and understanding that God never changes and God has something new for Jeremiah every morning.
my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is;
so I say, “My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the Lord.”
Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentation 3:17-24 (ESV)
I pray you will join me in lamenting those things that bring about great sorrow, lose or pain to God. Recall with me all that God has done for us. Lastly acknowledge who God is and remember God never changes. Finally know that God has something new every morning for us. It is these things that you gain hope. Remember from past blogs that it is by knowing God that we have hope. The relationship with God through Jesus brings us hope in the present and the future. I would also encourage you to seek Jesus for He is the only option there is to get eternal life. This is to me the greatest source of hope. In doing so, I believe we will have hope and joy during our everyday lives. Understanding that Jesus Christ allows us to access eternal life, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3 (ESV) This will allow us to have hope. At the same time understanding you will live eternally knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ and this will bring you the greatest hope. Because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfied the penalty for sins. His payment satisfies all my sins from the past, the present and in the future. My penalty and yours was satisfied on the cross by the death of Jesus, God’s greatest act of love and wrath, who became sin for me and you. It was also God’s greatest act of faithfulness because “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV) Because holiness shows us, we need to believe in Jesus. I hope that you join me in helping others to choose Jesus.
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You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here.
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