Living in the land of Lament

In May of 2016 a 3 year old boy went to the Cincinnati Zoo with his family. While at the zoo he decided to climb into the enclosure of a 17 year old gorilla named Harambe. Harambe the gorilla grabbed and dragged the boy from the water moat to dry land. As the incident escalated the Zoo felt it was best to shoot and kill Harambe in order to ensure the safety of the boy. Now, like anything these days, there was video evidence of the incident. And what ensued was a viral discussion on whether or not the death of Harambe was necessary. Not just discussions and arguments, but prayer vigils were held for Harambe, charities were created, and Harambe became one of the biggest memes on the internet. Now, if you don’t know what a meme is, it is an image with some sort of funny caption to it. What was seen, in the aftermath of this incident, is turning a tragedy into a spectacle. Because it is much easier to turn to anger and frustration, to make pointed attacks, or humor and sarcasm rather than to deal with the fundamental issue.

There is a quote from a 4th century Saint named Syncletica of Alexandria, she says “There is a useful sorrow, and a destructive sorrow. Sorrow is useful when we weep for sin, and for our neighbor’s ignorance, and so that we may not relax our purpose to attain to true goodness: these are the true kinds of sorrow. Our enemy adds something to this. For he sends sorrow without reason.” We are not the first, nor will we be the last to have issues lamenting. But we can often have a destructive sorrow because we never get to these fundamental issues underneath our sorrow. Brad last week talked about how there is personal lament and corporate lament. Without lament we often don’t know how to deal with the pain that we go through. But what happens when we don’t lament corporately? What is the tragedy that a refusal to lament creates? Next week we will start in chapter 1 of Lamentations, but today I want us to look at how Israel got to the point that they needed to lament. Israel also failed to get to the source of their pain, in fact there are 3 important ways they failed to lament that caused their pain to persist. In confession of sin, in grieving the affects of sin, and in recognizing their dependence on God.

The ways we fail to lament

Failing to confess

We were in Exodus last year, and one theme throughout the book is the Promised Land that God was going to give them. Well fast forward several hundred years, and everything is going just as God had planned! I mean there had been some bumps in the road, like Saul’s pride getting in the way. But then there were David and Solomon! They brought prosperity, military victory, the Temple in which God’s presence dwelled with His people! But this “honeymoon” period didn’t last very long. In fact, it didn’t even last all of Solomon’s reign. Because Solomon’s sons ended up dividing into two kingdoms. The northern ten tribes, called Israel, and the southern two tribes, called Judah. The northern kingdom was completely wicked, they didn’t even stand a chance. King after king turned away from God and worshipped idols. It didn’t take long for them to experience the pain of their disobedience, in 722 BC they were conquered by the Assyrians. Now, one would have hoped that this would have been some sort of wake up call to Judah. And they tried…for a time. Josiah brought reform to Israel, bringing the people back to God and removing the idols. Things were looking up! But 30 years and 4 kings later, where we find Judah is in Babylonian captivity. Why?

They refused to confess to the Lord. In Jeremiah 26, we find the son of Josiah, Jehoiakim, at the beginning of his reign. He had turned away from God so the Lord called to Jeremiah and told him to go the Temple and call the people to lament, hoping that they might “listen and turn - each from his evil way of life - so that I might relent concerning the disaster that I plan to do to them because of the evil of their deeds. (Jeremiah 26:3). So how did the people respond? They yelled at him “you must surely die!”, seized him, and put him on trial. One prophet even reminded them of King Hezekiah and said “Did not the king fear the Lord and plead for the Lord’s favor, and did not the Lord relent concerning the disaster he had pronounced against them? We are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves!” Sadly, the people didn’t relent, they didn’t turn away from their sin and idolatry, they didn’t relent.

Confession recognizes just how deep our sin problem has gone. Confession is the act of going before God and recognizing how we have fallen short of His glory. That behind all our problems is first the fundamental issue of our sinful nature that has caused all the pain and suffering that we experience and see around us. We say “Lord, I have sinned, we have sinned, and I know that I am the problem, not you.” This is why we lament the affects of sin.

We may look this story in Jeremiah and say “wow, that is crazy! I couldn’t imagine something like that happening!” But don’t we so often get defensive when we are faced with our sins? When our spouse, or a church member, or a pastor confronts us about our sin our first reaction is often to defend ourselves and lash out rather than to confess we have in fact done wrong. Even more so in a congregation when we are faced with issues from our past. It is easy for us, rather than lament because of our communal sin, we seek to hide and repress that sin.

But Israel didn’t just refuse to mourn their sin, but also the destruction that came with their sin.

Failing to mourn

Lament does not just recognize and reflect on our problem of sin, but also all of the ways that world experiences suffering and pain as a result of sin. Natural disasters, health issues, wars, conflict among people, and so many other things. Sin affects, our family, it affects our church, it affects our communities, and our world. We mourn all the ways that sin has brought pain to those made in the image of God.

After Israel had already lost so much, they had already been in captivity to Egypt, they had already faced many being deported to Babylon, they refused to recognize the effects of their sins against God. As 2 Chronicles 36 tells us, “Zedekiah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord…did not humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah…stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord…all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds…imitated detestable practice of the nations…defiled the Lord’s temple. Then God sent prophets to them “for He had compassion on his people and on His dwelling place.” And how did Judah react? They “kept ridiculing the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until Lord’s wrath was so stirred up there was no remedy.” It was at this point that destruction came against the people.

So the place God had promised His people, the place that God desired to be a light to all the nations, the place that He wanted his presence to dwell with His people and now it is destroyed, the people in captivity, and God seemed to have forgotten His promises.

Sometimes, when we see the effects of sin, rather than lamenting we blame God, we mock him, we despise and ridicule God rather than lament the issues that our sin has caused us. Even in the midst of our suffering and pain we can refuse to reflect on why that pain is happening or ask God why He would let it happen. We bottle it up inside, we use external sources to relieve of us of our pain, because we would rather just not have to think about it at all. This is what Israel did for a long time. Or, when someone has been wronged, rather than understand and desire to sympathize with their pain, we ridicule or we tell them that they are overreacting. In doing so we fail to see how God has called us to care for others. All of this shows the final point, that they refused to trust God in the face of destruction.

Failing to trust God in trials

Lament can then turn us towards recognizing our dependence on God. We may begin with “why would you let this happen? What are you doing in my life or in the life of someone else?” But as we lament we recognize that God is the only one who can fix our problems. As Brad said last week, lament is a path to praise, a transition from pain to promise, from brokenness to God’s mercy.

Israel was in captivity for around 70 years, never once corporately lamenting what had led to their exile and destruction of God’s holy temple. It wasn’t until Nehemiah, who lamented over the destruction of His holy city, that they are able to go back and start to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. And in chapter 9 there is this beautiful lament from the whole community of people rebuilding the wall. This lament details the history of Israel’s unfaithfulness from Abraham, to those who were in the wilderness for 40 years, to all the kings and people in the land or promise. All of whom were disobedient to the Lord. It leads to their conclusion in Nehemiah 9:32-27

Nehemiah 9:32-37 “So now, our God—the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant— do not view lightly all the hardships that have afflicted us, our kings and leaders, our priests and prophets, our ancestors and all your people, from the days of the Assyrian kings until today. You are righteous concerning all that has happened to us, because you have acted faithfully, while we have acted wickedly. Our kings, leaders, priests, and ancestors did not obey your law or listen to your commands and warnings you gave them. When they were in their kingdom, with your abundant goodness that you gave them, and in the spacious and fertile land you set before them, they would not serve you or turn from their wicked ways. Here we are today, slaves in the land you gave our ancestors so that they could enjoy its fruit and its goodness. Here we are—slaves in it! Its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have set over us, because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please. We are in great distress”

Notice what they say about God. He has acted faithfully. He had given them abundant goodness and fertile land that he gave them. He was righteous in all the ways that He had acted. If you were these people wouldn’t you feel like saying “why are we being punished for our ancestors sins?” Some of things they are talking about happened over 1000 years prior, most of it at least 400-500 years before. But they took time to lament the sins of their fathers, and their fathers fathers, and so on; so that they might understand God’s goodness in light of their history. We must also lament our past, look to the sins that may have led to issues we are dealing with in our lives and in the life of our church and country.

What does it mean to corporately lament?

This leads to our main question. What does it mean to corporately lament and how do we do it?

It means confessing, grieving hardship, and turning to God with the issues facing a group of people.

Our American culture doesn’t like to think about suffering. Sometimes our sufferings can sometimes feel trivial, or insignificant. Sometimes we think that if we publicly speak on our suffering and grief that it means that we are weak, that we can’t fix our own problems, or that others are better put together and have less sin than we do. But guess what. We are weak, we can’t fix our problems, and all of us have fallen short of God’s glory. When we get to these points of despair it is easy to play the “blame game”. Blame family and friends “if you would have just been there for me!”, blame your state or your country “if those politicians would just get their act together I wouldn’t be in this mess!”, blame the circumstances that you have been put into “I didn’t even stand a chance because this happened to me”, and God “how could he let this happen to me if he loves me”? And what is true individually is also true corporately. No church is perfect, no pastor is perfect. Let me say that again. No church is perfect and no pastor is perfect. Every church has weaknesses that we must confess, hardships we must grieve, and a recognition that God is sovereign over the problems we face.

But corporate lament isn’t just about the inward but also about the outward.

It means showing compassion, having empathy and sympathy with others grieving, and recognizing that there are many things out of your hands.

Especially in our society of individualism it is even harder. If it didn’t affect us directly or we haven’t been through a similar experience, then we can have a hard time showing compassion and mercy. Or when someone begins to unload some of their pain, instead of allowing them to process what is happening to them, we jump in and talk about what we have experienced. Lament is a helpful way for us to understand the pains of others, to comfort those in need, and to be aware of the issues that others face.

As Brad said last week “to cry is human, to lament is Christian”. Because Lament is more than just being angry, or feeling betrayed, or dealing with spiritual and emotional conflict. It is the way that we can turn pain into praise. But it can also be a tool to hear the brokenness of others.

Have you ever watched a movie that made you cry? Maybe even a movie that you didn’t think would make you cry? I watched the Lion King a few weeks ago with my kids. And look…you have to be a little heartless if you see Simba trying to wake up Mufasa only to realize he was dead and not start to choke up. But what makes you cry during a movie? You have to feel the pain that the character is feeling. If you don’t feel a connection in any way to the character then it won’t cause you any emotion. But if you start to feel the sorrow that they are feeling, then you can’t help but cry. Corporate lament is the act of sharing in the burdens of one another. We can do this because we know that God has made each of us in His own image, that He loves each and every one of us even in the midst of our sin. We know that God knew and cared for every one of us before we were born and He desires for us to know Him. So when we lament corporately we acknowledge how our sin has marred God’s image in us and we seek redemption in Christ. There are two specific ways that I think we can lament.

Lament over the pain in our church

We can direct our lament inwardly

One of the first things that David did when he first became king was lament the fall of Saul and the pain that brought on Israel for the death of their king. He himself was even hurting because of the death of his friend Jonathan. He knew in order to move forward he must lament where they had been and the issues they faced.

We as a church must do the same. We must lament the pains our church goes through and the people who are hurting.

-Many of us don’t like to come up and share our pain and our heart. We would rather deal with our pain on our own, or with a small group of people. But there is also a wonderful peace that can come with knowing that a host of people are sharing with you in your pain. To know that there is a church behind you, praying for you in the troubles that you face.

Inwardly we must also face the sins of our own history. Are there ways as a church that we have sinned against God? Issues that we haven’t lamented over? I think there are many sins that the church has committed that we would just as easily forget or excuse rather then lament over.

Now, we are a church that is part of the Southern Baptist Convention. And most of you may not be aware of how the SBC started. But it began over an argument over slavery, over whether or not a slave owner should be sent out as a missionary or not. The Southern Baptists were the group in favor of sending out slave owners as missionaries. Rather than to say slavery was wrong, they decided to make their own convention.

-Now this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be part of a Southern Baptist church, but it does mean that we should lament this history just like those in Nehemiah lamented their history. They didn’t say “why is that our fault, why should we lament the sins of our ancestors?” Rather they sought to repent and ask for God’s mercy on them. That we should lament how there were churches, and pastors who were violent towards our African-American brothers and sisters and didn’t listen and mourn with them when they shared their pain. We should lament the ways the church has perpetuated racism rather than sought to mourn with those who mourn.

We can lament over the pain in our community

We can lament those in our community who have not come to know the Lord. We can lament the issue of drug addiction that is still prevalent in our community. We can lament with the many in our community who have lost loved ones as we see our grief share groups grow, many who have lost families members as a result of COVID.

We can lament that there are still kids in foster care who do not have a family to care for them. Lament the parents who are unable to care and support their kids. Lament the families with kinship care placements who struggle to make ends meet.

Lament issues throughout our world

We can also lament the larger issues that affect our world just like Jeremiah did.

Jeremiah 48:36 “Therefore, my heart moans like flutes for Moab, and my heart moans like flutes for the people of Kir-heres. And therefore, the wealth he has gained has perished.” Jeremiah felt the hurt that was going to come on another nation and he even desired to see them repent. We can also look at Nineveh in the book of Jonah who, when they heard of the world of the Lord, they repented. So we lament with our sinful world rather than just lament against them.

In our country there are many issues that we can lament. The continued injustice of unborn children who are aborted. But even more we can lament the families who come to a point where they believe they have no other option but to abort their child. Lament a system that encourages abortion rather than give the resources necessary to help mothers. Lament there are not enough families to support the adoption of these children.

Lament the state of politics right now where people would rather fight and hold on to their pride rather than do what is right. Lament that misinformation has led to violent riots and fighting among believers.

We can lament the soldiers who have died in battle, from any side of the war. Lament those who survived but can’t emotionally cope with the troubles they have witnessed. Lament the war happening right now in Ukraine and the lives affected by this. Lament that there are families under oppressive governments where it is illegal to hear the Gospel, where they are not given clean water and food to care for their families. We can lament the reality of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

For God so loved the World

This journey of lament will lead us to a greater sense of who God is and where he is in the pain of life. It leads us to acknowledge our dependence on Him alone. We celebrate His mercy and grace, His faithful love and his willingness to meet us in the midst of difficulties of life. Lament in and of itself is demonstration of our dependence on Him - that He alone can help us and minister to us in our trouble. We lament these hard things because we believe our ultimate hope is in Him. Jesus came as the Savior of the world, having the victory over sin and death, lifting the burden and brokenness of sin. We may live in the land of lament, but one day all things will be made new and we will be delivered from sorrow, grief and pain. We believe this, we remain true to God by loving those God has brought into the world. until then, we are guided by Scripture - passages like 1 John 5 where we read that we love others as a demonstration of our love for God. As we lament the brokenness around us, in Christ we are led to mourn with those who mourn, comfort those who are broken, show mercy to those in need of mercy. Lament opens doors of ministry. And hope is found.