Lamentations 1:16

Lamentations is a book not often read, I believe. Supposedly written by Jeremiah, it is a book of ‘laments’, or sorrowful poems concerning the destruction and captivity of Judah. Jeremiah was indeed very sorrowful, as seen right from the first chapter. We look today at one of his internal struggles, caused by the external.

‘For these things I weep;
My eye, my eye overflows with water;
Because the comforter, who should restore my life,
Is far from me.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy prevailed.’ (Lamentations 1:16)

For ‘these things’ he weeps; that is, the captivity of his people, and the desolation of the ‘Holy City’, of Zion, and of the desecration of the temple. These things were so immensely important to the Jews that anything against them was taken as a personal hurt. In fact, Jeremiah (we will assume he wrote the book) hurt so much that he considered himself dead. He thought that God, the comforter, should restore his life. But for all his need, he felt that instead, God was far from him.

I am going to have a guess and say that all of you have been in that type of position before. Not that a foreign nation has come and destroyed your precious temple or taken your family captive, but that you felt so sorrowful because of external things, that you were ‘dying’ internally. And then when you found that this was happening, you look around for God to restore you, and suddenly find that He is ‘far from you’. It is the worst feeling I have ever experienced, I think.

We ask the question, ‘where are You?’ ‘How do I find You?’ We know we need Him.

Well, we need to go back to the cause of the external sorrow. Obviously, there are many ways that sorrow can be caused – loved ones dying, personal failure, financial concern, angry bosses, long absence of loved ones, the list goes on. But if we go to the root of some of these sorrows, we see that some are caused by completely innocent things (for instance, someone’s untimely death by cancer), while some are induced by a pattern of sin, or a sinful attitude (eg. Failing an exam or two because you have neglected study in favour of immediate pleasure). We see in Jeremiah’s case, that the sorrow caused (on the whole nation) is because of the whole nation’s sin. Now, when your sorrow arises from this root, it is not surprising that God is far away when you look for Him to comfort you.

This does not mean, however, that He has abandoned you. Only that you have abandoned Him. He is still there. Right where He always was. And it doesn’t matter how sorrowful you are. Doesn’t matter how painful the situation is, or how inwardly dead you are, God is the comforter, and He will take hold of you, if you will return to Him.

Sorrow is not something we seek, but when found it is a catalyst for the good. Persevere.

I believe we shall find more answers in this book as we go through, and I’m looking forward to seeing the beauty and helpfulness of a sorrowful heart.