Trading My Sorrows

His Word: I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.         Lamentations 3: 24-26

Observation & Obedience: What makes you cry? What makes you feel deep sorrow? Does that sorrow lead to action or apathy? What makes a person cry says a lot about them. It shows whether they are self-centered or God-centered.  Where do you fall on this spectrum?

As one of God’s choice servants, Jeremiah stands alone in the depth of his emotions as he writes the book of Lamentations. Broken by his care for the people, his love for the nation of Israel and his devotion to God, Jeremiah laments (to feel, show, or express grief, sorrow, or regret; to mourn deeply) as he writes these five funeral songs.

While the book of Jeremiah looks forward with warning, Lamentations looks backward with mourning. Jeremiah sees the devastation, destruction and desolation of the city of Jerusalem. The temple, where God dwelt, is gone and so is God’s presence. The people are dying in the streets and there is nothing he can do now. They refused to listen when he warned of what God would do if they did not turn back to him…so he grieves, mourns and weeps.

Do you weep because your selfish pride has been wounded or because people around you lead sinful lives and reject the God who loves them dearly?

Do you weep because someone has insulted you or because someone has insulted your God?

Do you weep because you have lost something of value or because people around you will be lost forever because of their sin and rejection of God’s forgiveness?

Our world, like Jeremiah’s, is filled with injustice, poverty, war and rebellion against God. And seeing this should move us to tears and to action!  Is it time you traded the things/people/situations/circumstances that cause you sorrow and weep over the things that break God’s heart? Jeremiah wept tears of empathy and sympathy for those who were rejecting God; not tears of self-centeredness and self-pity because they had not paid attention to him.

Yet, Jeremiah was not without hope and neither are we. He did not give up trusting God. Instead he traded his sorrows and turned his focus on God’s faithfulness.  His Word for today represents hope in the midst of affliction. In Jeremiah’s darkest moment, his hope was strengthened with the assurance that God had been faithful in the past and would continue to be faithful in the future – therefore he would wait on, hope in and seek after God.

Prayer: “Dear God, give me a heart like yours; one that breaks and mourns for the lost. The abused. The exploited. The innocent. The weak. The poor. The missing. May I weep for the things that matter in this life.  May my focus be God-centered and not self-centered.  Self-centeredness only leads to sorrow for myself and not for others. I want to cling to your faithfulness and share the hope you bring with others who are hurting and need your love. Amen.”

Encouragement:  You may be someone’s only lifeline of hope.  June Hunt