When’s the last time you lamented?

Photo Credit: John Nyberg

I was looking up some Scripture from the message at church and once again, I was struck by the name of the book Lamentations. I mean, who laments  these days? Sure we’ve all been there, no matter what we call it. A meltdown, the ugly cry, even “man tears”. But lamenting puts emotional turmoil in a completely different light.

Lamenting is primal. Unceasing. It dominates and blurs the line between night and day, between whole and broken. Lamenting’s lies permeate our being and take captive all hope and faith. But while the power of lamenting seems boundless and unending, the truth of God’s promise covers all.

No matter how deep our despair, how intense our pain, how extreme our mistakes, God will never withhold his mercy. If we turn to him, he will never deny us forgiveness or tell us that our sin is too permanent, too ugly, too extreme.

When we are weary beyond compare and the darkness of the night refuses to relent, God meets us at our weakest moment and fills in the spaces where we feel hollow. He cancels out our sin with his mercy, and his forgiveness rises right along with the dawn. Every day, we awaken to the absolute knowledge that by his mercy we are redeemed. Forgiven. Justified. His.