Why Preach Lamentations?
This week we start our new series in the book of Lamentations. This book is the minor key of the Old Testament prophetic books, a collection of poems lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem. It’s a dark book, somber throughout in tone, and rarely lets the foot off the depressive tone pedal. Our time in Lamentations will not be long, but long enough to answer the question “why?”. Why would your pastors choose to stop and linger in a book with so few positive statements of hope?
Let’s consider at least three truths the book of Lamentations will teach us:
Lamentations will teach us the seriousness of sin against a Holy God.
In this book, we will come face to face with gruesome accounts of suffering and wickedness, and throughout we will wrestle with the tension of responsibility. It is God who is presented as the holy sovereign who allows suffering to continue, but at the root of the pain is an equal emphasis on the responsibility of man. Human rebellion has consequences, and rather than hiding from them or pointing the finger, Lamentations confronts the reality of sin. Ultimately we will learn that the response of God to to our sin against his holy character, no matter how hard it hurts to hear and experience, is good news and the key to finding lasting hope.
Lamentations will teach us the somber beauty of reality.
Lamentations is not just a collection of poems about suffering, it’s a collection of poems about reality. No one escapes the sorrows of the fallen world. Instead of running away, this book presses forward. There is no resolution in the book of Lamentations, it never ends with a caveat. It keeps pressing, further up and further in, into the reality of suffering. It will teach us that Christians are divinely equipped to stop painting over hard reality with trite optimism and instead display the wisdom of seeing clearly. There is a unique beauty in an optimism that comes the well of eternity, and a peace that comes from the truth of inevitability. Lamentations will teach us both, and all the while point us towards the who is both outside of this world and yet stepped into reality to show us the way home.
Lamentations will teach us the Biblical art form of suffering well.
When it comes to addressing suffering, the Biblical witness is not silent, but provides example and example of the right way to bring our pain and sorrow before God. Almost one third of the psalms are songs and prayers of lament, and yet we underestimate and undervalue the practice in our own worship. Lamentations will help us cure our temptation towards empty positive emotionalism and give us a blueprint for worship in spirit and in truth. As we will see, lament is art—it’s God’s providential way of hearing his people express deep feelings with the foundation of faith. And this art form comes from a grounding in the gospel, as we rely on a savior who suffered well.
Take some time this week to read through the book, noticing any patterns and highlighting any insights or questions you have. And join us in the prayer that Lamentations will together point us to Jesus. He is, now and forever, the aim of our affections.
one last thing…
If you are looking for some supplemental reading to help you during our time in Lamentations, we cannot recommend enough the book Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, by Mark Vroegop. We will be pulling heavily from Mark’s framework as we journey through the text together. Grab a copy today!