JULY302024

A common genre is the Bible is “lament.” The Psalmist or the Prophet would lament their personal situation or the situation of the nation, pouring out their heart in sorrow about how things had developed. How could the God who is so good have allowed this to happen! When one laments, you can only see the weeds, not the wheat. Jeremiah is practicing lament in the Old Testament lesson for today. The nation was conquered. The temple destroyed. The people taken into exile. Let my eyes stream with tears day and night, without rest, Over the great destruction which overwhelms the virgin daughter of my people, over her incurable wound.  However, Biblical lament is not simply a pity party or a gripe session but an act of faith in God. Yes, things look bleak right now but God is always faithful and God never fails. Jeremiah might have lamented the end of the Israelite nation but after the exile the Jewish people in time discovered their real identity not as a political entity, a nation among other nations, but as people of the Book, those who lived according to the revealed word of God. The wheat is there! Your prayer today might be a lament but one full of faith.