Lament Healing Through Accessibility
In these prayers, Jeremiah gives voice to the people. He shows the people how to emerge from victimization, to express their experience, and give meaning to the suffering. Jeremiah’s torrent of charges against God seems incredibly sacrilegious. He accuses God of being unjust in the management of the world. “Righteous art Thou, O LORD, that I would plead my case with Thee; Indeed I would discuss matters of justice with Thee: Why has the way of the wicked prospered? Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease?” Jeremiah is angry with God. He charges God with being a traitor, a false friend who has forsaken him. He releases his vehement emotions with this analogy. “Why has my pain been perpetual and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Wilt Thou indeed be to me like a deceptive stream with water that is unreliable? (Jer. 15:18). Jeremiah says that God has been like a wadi, which was a stream that would vanish during the dry season but would later become a flooding river sweeping away anything in its path during the rainy season.
These laments of Jeremiah express the anger of the people over the suffering of the present day. They are the embodiment of a nation’s desire to stay connected to the Lord. Even though the tones of the laments are fiercely bitter, it seems that God would rather have man express his anger before Him than to be silent in prayer. Even in anger, Jeremiah proves faithful to the Lord because he continues to pray to the Lord. Jeremiah keeps communication alive in the midst of destruction and despair. Even in the suffering, God is always accessible. God would rather have the sufferer screaming at Him than to have the sufferer give Him the silent treatment.
Related posts:
- Lament Healing through Responsibility.
- Lament Back to Faith
- Read “God’s Problem”
- Brag About the Blessings
About The Author
Matthew,
I want to let you know that I really enjoyed this post.
Keep up the great blogging.
You have a lot of great thing share with us all.
You make us think.
I like that about your blog.
Thank you, you have a great blog too.
God does expect us to “deal” with him. Lament is foundational to biblical faith. God knows our tears and has a shed a few himself … I know from experience. Still in it too. I’ve been with Jeremiah a lot lately.
Thanks for this post! I appreciate your teaching!
The fact that the Bible acknowledges that God’s chosen were wracked with doubt and questions and even anger towards God is one of the reasons that I continue to hold on to my faith.