As we move onto the second half of chapter one we are still listening to the voice of Jerusalem. She sees her suffering as brought upon her by Yahweh’s fierce anger. It is vital that we feel the force of this suffering, and that we do not try to water down her words. It is as we come to face the reality of what it means to be in utter desolation that we will see the power of this section of Scripture to speak to us and for us.
v12-16 Alone
Jerusalem sees that it is Yahweh who has done this, he has set fire to her bones, and made her desolate and faint all the day long. It is Yahweh who has woven together her sins, and hung them on her neck. It is Yahweh who has given her over into the hands of those that she cannot stand against. She longs for someone to look and see her suffering, to recognise what she is going through.
She is all too aware that it is Yahweh who has rejected her own warriors and brought up an army against her. And so she weeps and her eyes overflow with tears. There is no one nearby who can comfort her. Jerusalem is alone. The enemy has prevailed.
This is an utterly bleak moment in the history of the Bible. We know that it is not the end of the story, but those living in the wreckage of Jerusalem could not see that. Perhaps, we would say they ought to have remembered God’s promises. They should have recalled all that had been said before. Perhaps, but it is not easy to remember the promises of God in the midst of disaster.
There are surely moments in all our lives when we can recall feelings of utter abandonment. I vividly recall walking across a town first thing one Saturday morning, pushing my bike – the tyre had just punctured at my furthest point from home and it somehow seemed to symbolise my mood. For various reasons we had to move home by the end of that month, and we had nowhere to go, no job to move for. I had spent a fruitless few days looking for homes in one possible location, and faced the prospect of having to do the same thing in a different place in a few days time. The previous year seemed all rather pointless with all its different frustrations. I pushed my bike while frustratedly crying out to God asking why he had allowed things to get to this point.
It is possible to logically analyse that year, to point to different issues, to flaws in my own character, to the mistakes of others, to external circumstances making things difficult. I imagine it would be possible to draw up an allocation of where exactly everything went wrong. It is also possible to draw up a diagram of how different events in that year have made a difference to my self understanding and growth, of how they have contributed to my character and understanding of the world. And yet none of that understanding is of much use in the midst of the pit of despair, in the damp drizzle of a gray early spring morning.
At times like those we need to remember that Lamentations is in the Bible. God gives space to the voices of those who, whether through ignorance, weakness or their own deliberate fault, are in the pit of despair. He makes those stories part of his stories.
Whatever the story is in which you find yourself in right now there is a hope in the midst of it. Not an easy hope that makes everything feel good now, but a hope that in the end all things will be well, and a hope that even now in the midst of the pain there is one who has entered that pain, and who gives the strength to endure to the end.
v17 Recognition
This verse comes as something of an interjection from the poet – Zion (Jerusalem) is now spoken of in the third person, almost as if confirming or underlining her isolation. There is no-one at all who will comfort her. Yahweh has decreed her isolation, her neighbours are her foes. The switch of voice underlines that Jerusalem’s sufferings are no mere imagination.
It is worth pondering this for a moment. Sometimes when we see suffering our instinct is to minimise it. To want to reassure quickly that it will be OK, that life is not really that bad. But sometimes what is needed is an external voice with the strength to say “this stinks”. I can vividly remember sitting in class at Regent a few days after our first miscarriage. A couple of people sympathised. One person though just said “it just stinks” (or something similar) and it was the most meaningful comment that day – because I knew that they got it.
Sometimes circumstances are awful, and the first step to helping someone is sometimes simply to recognise just how bad their situation is. Sometimes it is that simple act of recognition that makes all the difference. Sometimes suffering can make us believe we have lost our minds as well, so the simple act of recognition from someone else that validates our perspective can be vital.
v18-22 Despair
These verses switch back to the voice of Jerusalem. Here she recognises that Yahweh is righteous, and that she has sinned against him. The promised penalty has been enacted – and she calls on people to look and listen. Not so much at this point to sympathise, but to learn. It is almost a moment of calm before the emotion of the moment takes over once more.
She called to her allies – but they did not come. Priests and leaders perished. Jerusalem is disturbed, and in torment, recognising her own sin, and the reality of the death it has brought. She is alone, and her enemies rejoice over her. Her only hope is that the wickedness of Babylon will one day also be judged, and they too will be brought low. The chapter ends in the despair of groaning and a heart that is faint.
It is hard to end at this point. If I was preaching on this passage I would want to bring in some hope at this point. But I think I would be wrong to jump too quickly to the hope. Yes, Lamentations is not the only book in the Bible, and not the only thing to say about suffering – but it is in the Bible, and it is in the Bible as a book that tells us it is OK to take some time to unpack and tell our story of suffering.
Perhaps that is the point of this chapter ending like this. Perhaps it is reminding me to let people tell their pain without trying to make it tidy. Perhaps it is reminding me that I need to sit with the person in pain and be able to validate what they say, to let them express in their words how their pain feels right now without needing to put it into my theological grid to help me understand things better.
Joshua's Tree Rooted 