Over the past six months I have been in these depths of the pit of sorrow, pain, grief, bitterness. They have all been my friends. I have felt my prayers have been shut out and I have been in dark places. I have also felt that my inward parts have been shot, and never have I felt so much pain and anguish before in my life. These thoughts seem disturbing possibly to someone who hasn't experienced them. It may sound as if God forgot about me and my life, maybe He became busy with another idea or project and put me on hold because I was just too pitiful. This could have been how the author of Lamentations felt also. Most of these words are from Chapter 3: 1-20. As I read them over and over again, I realized, I wasn't the first and won't be the last. And I realized at verse 21 that what, there is HOPE?
Well, now the author has my attention, HOPE? After all the depressing feelings, I was with the author on how awful life had become, and then he throws in HOPE? Hey, who canceled the pity party? They didn't tell me, I was set to come and stay awhile, way past midnight for sure!
The author switches gears abruptly, making sure he is not consumed and not forgetting that the Lord's great love and compassion never fail. Truth instead of emotions is a good prescription for grief, despair, deep hurts and pain. Truth gets to the heart, speaks to the heart. Emotions and feelings are not truth, for they are not run on truth generally and need to be stopped, abruptly with truth, hope and love.
Allowing myself to hear this, training my mind to listen to this and learning from it all is a challenge beyond Mt. Everest at times. How to overcome and move to a place where I can say, "This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope" (v 21). Prayer and meditation, support from the body and consistency in the truth are the keys to overcoming the emotions that desire to be heard most of the time. In essence, time with the Lord and listening to His voice even when life is not what I thought.
