On Lament and Lamentations (pt. 4)

Lament has been called a "lost art" and it seems to be a spiritual practice we have largely neglected in modern Western Christianity. For the next few weeks, I'm going to share some of the key spiritual truths that the book of Lamentations has to teach us. They are lessons and truths that we might otherwise miss if we try our own shortcuts past suffering.

Lamentations is a book about wrestling. It wrestles with the pain of judgment. It wrestles with all that has been lost. It wrestles with the God who has sent the suffering. 

While turning to God as the only source of relief, the author of Lamentations never turns against God. 

Lamentations still portrays God as good, even if it doesn't feel that way. Look how the book ends:

You, Lord, reign forever;

    your throne endures from generation to generation.

20 

Why do you always forget us?

    Why do you forsake us so long?

21 

Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return;

    renew our days as of old

22 

unless you have utterly rejected us

    and are angry with us beyond measure.

(5:19-22)

God is still in control, he is still the one to make this right. He is still good...but the results are up to him. Lamentations reveals a genuine faith - a complete commitment to letting God be God. Ending it ambiguously, "unless you have utterly rejected us...", leaves us with the tension of waiting on God. And that's ok. 

God would step by step bring the restoration this book is so hungry for. They are restored back to their land under Ezra and Nehemiah. They are delivered in the inter-testamental period from their Greek aggressors. And finally, some five centuries later, Jesus arrives. The promised Messiah appears to restore the people to their God and inaugurate his Kingdom.

The story of Lamentations leaves things open-ended in the short-term because it leads us to Christ in the long-term.  God is still on the throne; he is still good and will make good on his promises to his people.

On Lament and Lamentations (pt.3)

Lament has been called a "lost art" and it seems to be a spiritual practice we have largely neglected in modern Western Christianity. For the next few weeks, I'm going to share some of the key spiritual truths that the book of Lamentations has to teach us. They are lessons and truths that we might otherwise miss if we try our own shortcuts past suffering.

If there’s any passage you know from Lamentations, it is the verses of 3:22-24:

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.”

These lie at the center of the book in chapter 3 and I don't think that is an accident. The pivot point for lament is this core truth about God. Lament could turn into bitterness if we didn't have this as our hope. 

In the previous post, we noted how God harshly judges sin. He's the ultimate cause of their suffering as they have forced him to punish their sin because they've refused to repent and loved their rebellion. So as chapter three is added to the equation, Lamentations confronts us with this paradox:

While God is the source of our pain, he’s our only hope of relief.

Later on in the chapter – 3:55-57

I called on your name, Lord,

    from the depths of the pit.

56 

You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears

    to my cry for relief.”

57 

You came near when I called you,

    and you said, “Do not fear.”

They have endured God's wrath, but they know they can still turn to their God.

And this isn't just limited to this part of Scripture. If you go to other places in the Bible with laments, you’ll see this same pattern. Google “Lament Psalms” almost every single one will end with an expression of trust and hope in God.

Even if answers aren’t apparent…

Even if relief isn’t on the horizon...

...We can still trust God. He's our only hope of relief.

On Lament and Lamentations (pt.2)

Lament has been called a "lost art" and it seems to be a spiritual practice we have largely neglected in modern Western Christianity. For the next few weeks, I'm going to share some of the key spiritual truths that the book of Lamentations has to teach us. They are lessons and truths that we might otherwise miss if we try our own shortcuts past suffering.

Last week we worked through how Lamentations shows us that it is ok to complain to God in our misery. Another general theme emerges when we read through the book of Lamentations:

God is a strict judge of unrepentant sinners.

We are given the freedom to complain to God, but make no mistake - Lamentations does not try to excuse the predicament they are in. Lamentations does not deny that they deserved punishment. It accepts this punishment as just: 

“The Lord is righteous,

    yet I rebelled against his command.

Listen, all you peoples;

    look on my suffering.

My young men and young women

    have gone into exile. (1:18)

It still hurts of course. Their reality was still disastrous and no less horrifying.

Lamentations 3:42-48:

“We have sinned and rebelled 

and you have not forgiven.

43 

“You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us;

    you have slain without pity.

44 

You have covered yourself with a cloud

    

so that no prayer can get through.

45 

You have made us scum and refuse

    among the nations.

When we work through this book we would do well to remember that God is not a wrathful God at his core. God is not, by nature, one who takes pleasure in punishment. It is something he does when his hand is forced. Something he does, not the core of who he is.

But Lamentations records the aftermath of events at a time when his hand was forced. Over decades and even centuries, Judah was unfaithful to their covenant. Over and over again they refused to follow what God wanted. Instead they pursued other false religions and the false promises of political alliances to try to achieve their own ends.

And finally, God had to strictly judge them. It was fair and deserved, but it was also harsh and painful. 

When we relate to our Creator, we should not conceive of him as a displeased authority just waiting to strike us down at our first misstep. But we also should not imagine him as a cuddly teddy bear Santa Claus who only ever nice. He will judge when rebellion and wickedness call for it. But the one who is Judge is also our hope...and that will be where we camp out next year.

 

On Lament and Lamentations

For thousands of years, the people of God utilized the spiritual practice of lament to express their struggles and draw closer to the Lord. 

Apart from liturgical worship, lament has fallen out of favor with modern-day Christians. I don't have any hard data on it, but my theory is that we prefer cheap confession and quick restoration, choosing whatever path of least resistance will allow us to fear better about ourselves as quickly as possible. 

We don't like to sit with our pain and grief. We don't like to wrestle with the shame of our own mistakes and that is why lament is often neglected. Raw and honest lamentations won't write many best selling books or create very many hit songs for Christian radio. 

When we survey our holy Scripture, we'll discover lament all over the place: Job, Psalms, the Prophets, and Jesus himself offers up laments. And what those examples reveal to us is that God uses lament as part of our healing process. God meets us in our lament and uses it to draw us back to himself.

Mark Vroegop, a pastor who did actually write a book on lament, defines it as "a prayer in pain that leads to trust." I also like Jacob Wright's description that lament grieves "a past of violence, a present moment of suffering and torment, and a future that does not have certain answers." (h/t Scott McKnight).

We prefer our quick-fixes and black-and-white answers. Lament offers none of that. But what it does offer is better. Because until we can come to grips with how truly awful the bad side of life is, we won't be able to fully appreciate how beautiful the good news of Jesus is.

So for the next few weeks, I'm going to share some of the key spiritual truths that the book of Lamentations specifically has to teach us. They are lessons and truths that we might otherwise miss if we try our own shortcuts past suffering.

The first is a self-evident truth, that it is ok to complain to God in our misery. 

The fact that Lamentations is included in God's Word establishes this truth. This book - along with the plethora of other instances - reveals that we have the freedom to express our pain honestly to God. 

It is a collection of poems written after the Babylonian exile of 587/6 BC. 587 was the culmination of Babylon's domination of Judah. It is forever etched in Israel's history because these conquering forces destroyed two locations once thought to be 'invincible' - the Temple and Jerusalem. Jerusalem as a capital and the Temple specifically were seen as symbols of God's abiding presence and protection. Two places that would never be touched by heathen armies. Judah had seen their northern counterparts succumb to invading armies. But that was different. The southern Kingdom had the proper Temple and the true throne of David.

Things didn't work out for Judah though. Their sins and rebellion went unchecked and they turned to political alliances time and time again rather than seek spiritual reform.

Lamentations expresses the raw emotion of desperation and horror after the atrocities of these events took place. 

Lamentations is upfront about the 'cause' of all of this too. It recognizes that the people's sin brought this on themselves (1:18, 3:42-48). These were self-inflicted wounds and yet still they lament. 

God didn't ignore their pleas. He didn't mock their prayers as 'too little, too late'. He heard them. He included them in Scripture and eventually he did bring them redemption - punishing their punishers and ultimately bringing Jesus the Messiah. 

But don't miss the fact that Lamentations gives us permission to complain to God in our misery. He invites and encourages it. He meets us in all of it. 

When you feel like you're drowning in your troubles, don't hold back and don't try to hold it in. Take it to God. He's a good confidant and a patient listener. And he'll answer our cries with his presence...and there will be nothing else that will compare.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

As I noted in my last post, it's been a busy fall. Keeping up this blog has been one of the things that I've let fall to the wayside. But this, the first day of December, is the day of my return. I'm sure dozens of you will rejoice. 

In all seriousness, I thought I'd share an article I wrote for our local paper. It was our church's turn in their rotation to have a feature on the backpage. 

I knew this would run the week of Thanksgiving, so I offered this to them - and now to you. Some Thanksgiving Thoughts:

------------------------------

Before we start decking the halls, stringing up lights, and putting Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas is You” on repeat, can we take some time to fully celebrate the current holiday?

While Thanksgiving may get overshadowed from the annual “Christmas Creep”, I’ll try to do my part with these reflections and share some of the things I am grateful for this year.

Let’s start at home. I am deeply thankful for my family. I am grateful for my wonderful wife who works as a counselor part-time, lives as a mom full-time, and has chosen to be a partner with me in our life’s journey. I am thankful for our two boys, nearly 4 and 6 respectively. They bring so much adventure, chaos, and fun into daily life. Parenting them is so exhausting but so rewarding.

I’m very grateful to serve as pastor at our church. We are a congregation that takes our calling seriously to impact our community. We are not necessary a real “young” group of people but God has blessed us with enough energy and vision to do what Christ wants us to do and be who he wants us to be.

I am especially thankful for the Milford community. And it is not just because of Harry’s Pork Tenderloin which is the best I’ve ever tasted. No, there’s more to it. We are a friendly town that is generally comprised of people who genuinely care about each other. I appreciate how local businesses and organizations partner together to organize community events and foster a caring spirit among our people. I don’t take it for granted either that two other churches (First Christian, Wawasee Bible) have consistently joined our weekly Prayer Tent endeavor. If you can use some encouragement, stop by on Thursday afternoons where we’re stationed next to the Housing Authority building.

Lastly, I need to mention just how grateful I am for God’s provision. As I take stock of 2023, I realize just how faithful he is. And not just generally. In our family, we had several significant unexpected medical bills – and God’s provided. The more I walk this Christian path, the more I see God showing up when I need him. He has done that ultimately with His Son Jesus – the greatest gift we could ever receive. But there I go, creeping into the Christmas season myself.

Hopefully these reflections can help you embrace this Thanksgiving for all it’s worth.

Life's Incongruity

6 Weeks since my last post - yikes, not intentional nor is it ideal. 

Life has been busy in the Compson household and with our Milford First Brethren Church. I doubt you have interest in my detailing all that has been going on so I'll spare you that. 

But I thought I might share some of the incongruous elements of life I've been noticing recently. 

"Incongruous" by the way is one of those big words that deserves defining. It means "not harmonious, incompatible, inconsistent within itself".

Raising two young boys has plenty of "incompatible" moments. I started latching onto the label "agents of chaos" to describe what it's like. That's probably somewhat unfair though because Stephanie and I love them dearly even if we end many days exhausted. 

But from a fuller perspective it is a satisfying joy to see our kindergartner maturing and behaving well enough at school to be named "Student of the Month". Things like that make his parents' hearts happy for sure. 

T requested I include a picture of his special dog tags he received.

That joy stood in incongruous contrast to what developed over the weekend. 

See, a few weeks ago, my mom flew over to Israel to visit her sister and her family. My aunt and uncle have lived in northern Israel for decades, running a school and serving in a variety of ways. 

And then last weekend the terrorist group Hamas orchestrated surprise attacks, initiating a bloody and awful conflict that is still playing out. The attacks in and around Gaza are well south of where my family is. Still, I do have cousins who are now 'called up' and serving in the IDF. And should the conflict escalate and other nations join in the attacks, my mom, aunt, and uncle will certainly be in real danger. 

So our joy is mixed with concern, even sadness as we read and observe what's going on in this far-away conflict that is hitting very close to home. But even being in consistent communication with my mom, incongruity pops up again. She's giving voice to faith, not fear. They are all praying fervently for peace, justice, and God's protection. A godly serenity though chaos is knocking on their door. 

Could this be a holy incongruity? Things aren't making sense, circumstances are NOT harmonious. 

But God is still good. And Jesus is still on the throne. We can trust him - especially in the incongruity. 

Lessons From Exodus

Over the summer, I led our church through a sermon series in the book of Exodus.

It is a record full of stories many are familiar with but a book many of us don't know as well as we think we do. 

I enjoyed it, I think our people did too. I titled the series "Our Deliverer is Coming" with a hat-tip to the Rich Mullins song. I chose that title because of the undeniable correlations the Exodus story has with the life and work of Jesus. 

After finishing the book, I put together a message on "Christian Lessons from Exodus" (credit to Tremper Longman's overview commentary for the inspiration. And in this post I'd like to write on that kind of idea but share some lessons that I'm cherishing in a more personal way.

So, here's three takeaways that I learned and grew to appreciate having studied this great book.

1) Monotheism???

One aspect of studying the confrontation between Yahweh/Moses and Pharaoh/Egypt was an alteration of my understanding of the Bible's concept of "Monotheism". God doesn't assert his exclusive divinity in a way I've learned it in systematic theology. No when you read of God confronting Pharaoh through Moses in  Exodus 3-12, it is put in almost polytheistic terms. 

The 'gods' of Egypt help Pharoah's magicians imitate some of God's plagues in 7:22, 8:7, 8:18-19. 
And before the final plague, God declares his coming victory like this: 

“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.  13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt." (Exodus 12:12-13)

Egypt certainly was worshipping supernatural powers of some (evil) sort. The Exodus was about establishing Yahweh's undeniable superiority over anything mankind could label a 'god'. 

This theme continues with the first of the Ten Commandments. Read them closely and you may be surprised at how God defines his own monotheism. Now, certainly we can deduce that no other powers deserve the title of "God" and I'm not here advocating for a polytheistic worldview. But I found it interesting how Scripture defines these things in these stories.

2) Sympathy for Israel

The problem with reading Exodus is that we let the rest of the Old Testament skew our perspective. I find myself having a greater sympathy for the ancient people of Israel after going through this book. The Golden Calf abomination of chapter 32 certainly is prescient of what unfolds throughout the rest of Scripture. But they also display corporate commitment and faith at a number of points (4:29-31, 12-13, 19, 24, 39:42-43). 

They were a people coming out of centuries of subjugation, abuse, and distress. They saw God powerfully work at numerous points and they follow God's leader - and that's to their credit, even if they were imperfect. 

3) The Beauty of Christ

There were so many instances in the Exodus story where we can't help but recognize the foreshadowing and precursors of Christ. 

• Moses stands as a deliverer who sets the stage for the Deliverer. 
• Israel's path of entering then leaving Egypt is symbolically followed by Christ in his early years (Matt. 2)
• The Law is fulfilled in Christ and he offers his own 'Law' via the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). 
• Jesus "tabernacled" among us, embodying God's presence with humanity in an even greater way than in Exodus (John 1:14 cf. Ex. 35-40)
• Jesus ultimately accomplished what the Law was only alluding to - full forgiveness and fellowship with God (Heb. 10:11-14)

There are certainly more I could list. If you read through Exodus and miss the connections to Christ, you have really missed the point.