Lament

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases," Lamentations 3:22.

Lamentations is a very hard read for me. Five chapters. The prophet's broken heart details the crushing of a naked people meeting raw justice. And he, the prophet, over and again, blames God. Not for the people's choosing to do evil. Agrees justice in the consequences. Blames God for the terror, the unrelenting horror of an unstoppable holocaust. That song we love to sing, in the first line above, sits right smack dab in the middle of the account of God's raging armies. Atrocities sit to one side of the song, despair on the other. And in the middle of lament: Hope. Unimaginable. Hope. Beyond the pale. Hope. Where? Hope that God will change rage to compassion. God did it, where else to find another outcome? Hope! that mercy triumph over judgment.

With a brother or sister today, we hope and wait confidently for God's salvation. In the middle of this world's despair, we trust God to have received Jesus, and us with him, into the sky kingdom. And, together, we give thanks for Jesus' love victory!