I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”
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 3:17-18, 25-26 NIV
He sits alone in the dirt. Puffs of dust on the horizon are all that can be seen of the enemy. The city is laid waste, ransacked and leveled. Embers still smolder, ashes of the temple float in the air. Somewhere in the ruins a mother who managed to hide from the marauders wails at the loss of her child; but most are gone now, slain or prisoners of war.
He had spent a lifetime trying to tell them, imploring them to change, revealing the consequences if they did not turn their lives and their society around. But would they listen? No. Though he had prophesied Jerusalem’s fall, the butchery of the Babylonians had stunned Jeremiah. Sobs racked his body. Endless tears ran down his cheeks, mixed with the dirt on his face and caked in his beard. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Daughter of Zion, City of God, fallen. Gone.
The prophet knew in his heart that the city’s punishment was just; but that didn’t stop the ache in his soul as he watched his city burn. Everything he’d ever cared about and all his dreams were utterly destroyed. “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”
There are too many for whom Jeremiah’s situation feels all too real: Communities in immerging from the ravages of winter storm; Ukraine, Gaza, countries in Africa and South America, North Korea, and more dealing with the war, despot governments, or civil upheaval; fear and anxieties on our own homefront as governmental dictates are being carried out in ways that are just plain wrong; closer to home some have lost everything to fire, lives have been torn asunder by marital conflict and divorce, by death of a loved one, by health issues, by job loss, by … you fill in the blank. When hope is shattered, there is an understandable emotional outcry. We lose something that gives us life and energy and lose the ability to look beyond present circumstances into future possibilities. Our disappointment easily becomes bitterness and despair. With the prophet Jeremiah we lament, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord” (18).
It is in the gravity of such great disappointment, of such great despair at the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, and the nation’s exile that Jeremiah writes Lamentations. A lament is a funeral dirge, a “song of sorrows.” I think we’ve lost the art of writing down what we cannot express. It is often in the putting to paper that we are able to sort our thoughts and realign our perspectives. Jeremiah in this lament provides for us pattern by which to realign our perspective and our hope in the midst of despair so that we can rise above the pain and face the circumstances in appropriate ways.
Jeremiah begins lamenting the loss of everything dear to him. He has not received from God what he expected. How often aren’t we in the same place? Grief is real; it needs to be acknowledged and faced honestly. But by the middle of the lament, Jeremiah’s perspective changes; hope begins to replace despair. The circumstances are the same – he’s still looking upon a smoldering city – so what has caused this change? Jeremiah has realigned his perspective and changed his focus. Instead of hoping for something from the Lord, he is hoping in the Lord. “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him” (25).
When we are hoping for something from God, we are still looking at our circumstances; we want something to make our circumstances better. Working to change the circumstances is not wrong but when that becomes the first and primary response, God is usually overlooked. Our response is typically self-focused, even when we say we are focusing our emotions and actions on the fate of others. If we would truly respond in a God-like way, with the love of God to be able to offer true hope, then we must first align our relationship with God and put our hope in God. So how do we do that? How do we put our hope in God?
Hope in God is a decision, an act of faith. After voicing his despair, Jeremiah chose to remember what he knew was true about God. “This I will call to mind…” (21). “I will say to myself…” (24). Jeremiah knew what God had promised and what God’s character was like and chose to focus on those things instead of allowing his motions and emotions to be in control. Our feelings are based on limited and skewed perspectives of reality. Like Jeremiah, we need to actively recall the truth of who God is. The only accurate picture of God is found in God’s Word. When disappointment becomes more than you can bear, the Word of God will help you to realign your hope by reminding you of the truth of who God is.
Placing hope in God reminds us that only God truly satisfies. Jeremiah reminds himself, “The Lord is my portion” (24). It is a statement of absolute dependence on God; the Lord alone is enough. How often do we turn to inferior things of this world in an attempt to find satisfaction? But, as David states repeatedly in the Psalms, it is a relationship with God that fills. “I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name will I lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you” (63:4-5). “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (16:11).
Placing hope in God requires reflection and solitude. Jeremiah says a curious thing in verses 26-28: “It is good to wait quietly … sit alone in silence.” Recognizing that God is enough even in the midst of disappointment is a vital aspect of placing hope in God. This kind of silence can be a scary thing. When you pour out your thoughts and unload your heart it can take a long time for your heart to stop racing as you wonder what God will do with it all. Jeremiah had a lot of time to sit alone in silence and reflect upon his circumstances and the truth of who God is. We may have to carve out time to deeply reflect on the truth of God’s character.
Hoping in God does two things: it recognizes that the things of this world aren’t going to satisfy the aches in our souls no matter how much we believe they will and so enables us to have a sure foundation when the things of this world drop out from under us. This realignment of focus, then, is just as important for those of us experiencing blessing as it is for those experiencing loss and disappointment. Both are equally capable of destroying us if we fail to respond to them properly. Apart from a hope that transcends the words, pictures, thoughts, and travesties that demand our primary focus on a daily basis there can be no release from the endless cycle of disappointment, anger, and hopelessness.
Align your hope in God first. Only as we place our focus on God first and put our hope in God will we be truly free to respond with care, love, justice, and mercy. With Jeremiah let us say, “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” (25-26).