We recognize and lament the cuts we've all taken to the bone and the excruciating pain that has cracked us through to the very core.... And we take a deep breath, lift our eyes up and away from the grief that clings to us like mud on shoes, and we understand that, in fact, we have a much bigger problem.
Disease, Death, and Defenselessness
It is a difficult thing to come to terms with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as he reveals himself in his word. So often I'd much rather paint a caricature of him and get to know the idol I've fashioned in my own image. My idols, even the ones I call Yahweh, are always much easier to accept, much less demanding, and are always neatly under my control.
Hope in Lamentations
If "there may yet be hope" in the midst of the obliteration of God's people—if even then they can return to the King and find not merely pardon but one who will still their hearts, take up their cause, and fight for them—then perhaps there may yet be hope for you and me even now.