What do we do when confronted by tragedy and disaster?
Just in the last short while we’ve seen reports of extraordinary flooding in Libya and devastating earthquake in Morocco as well as the on-going war in Ukraine.
The biblical book of Lamentations arises from a place of loss, of tragedy and disaster. Its opening line is, “How lonely sits the city that once was full of people!” On Sunday I mentioned that I spoke briefly about Lamentations at a conference on ‘Hope’ (which may seem surprising) and I’ll share some of my thoughts here over the next couple of weeks.
Lamentations has five chapters, each a separate poem, which weep over – indeed lament – the loss of Jerusalem to invading forces. The poems are carefully constructed. Chapters 1, 2 and 4 are acrostic poems in the original Hebrew language, with the 22 verses starting with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In chapter 3 the acrostic idea is ramped up, so that there are three verses beginning with each letter. Chapter 5 starts with an acrostic structure but it breaks down towards the end.
Chapter 1 describes the great losses that Jerusalem (also known as Zion) has seen. It refers to mourning, exile, enemies and downfall.
Chapter 2 continues to describe the fate of Jerusalem but now in terms of the destruction of the city being at the hands of the Lord, acknowledging the “The Lord has done what he purposed, he has carried out his threat” (v.17).
Chapter 3, the middle chapter of the book, uses more personal language, speaking of ‘I’ and ‘me’ and reflecting:
The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!
My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. (3.19-20)
We hear a number of different voices as we read Lamentations, and here perhaps we hear the voice of trauma. Trauma has been defined as, “a negative experience that overwhelms a person’s ability to cope.” This seems to fit – the poet of Lamentations has clearly had a negative experience of the fall of the city of Jerusalem and all that the city represented for Israel’s identity, and is overwhelmed by constant thoughts of the affliction.
But right in the middle of the middle chapter is a famous declaration of hope in the steadfast love of the Lord:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’ (3.22-24)
In the midst of the writer’s poetic reflection, concerning disaster which has come upon the people of God, the poet calls to mind the steadfast love of the Lord, and declares that it gives hope. The poet continues, describing hope in a God who is good, and recognising the need to ‘wait quietly’ (closely linked to hope) for God’s salvation. The poet expresses confidence that the Lord will not reject for ever, and that the Lord does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.
This is foundational for the poet, although it is not simple as we will see. But something that is clear from Lamentations is that the poet continually ‘faces’ God. All the emotions and feelings generated by the desperate situation are expressed to God. As with many of the Psalms, we see that it is thoroughly biblical to lament to God – to bring our concerns, our anger, our desperation to God.
Whatever we feel we can or cannot do in the face of awful events in Libya, Morocco, Ukraine or closer to home, we can pour out our hearts to God, who will hear us and whose steadfast love never ceases.
Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash