Lamentations 1
Most people refer to this book of the Bible as The Lamentations of Jeremiah, because most scholars agree it was written by the prophet Jeremiah. But these aren’t the lamentations of Jeremiah. They are the lamentations of God. Oh, Jeremiah might have also been distraught over what happened to his nation, but I believe the anguished heart cry here is all God’s.
Ecclesiastes 1
The last time I studied this book in a Bible study group, someone thought that Solomon would have been diagnosed with severe depression if he was living in today’s world. Certainly, someone could read Ecclesiastes 1 and get that impression! But I’m not so sure. There’s part of me that thinks Solomon—far from having a view of life that was skewed by depression—actually got it.
Job 6
When Job opens his mouth to reply to Eliphaz, one thing is clear: He is angry. "Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams... Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid." (vs 14-15, 21)
You love those who hate you! This was the accusation Joab leveled at David after the big battle where David’s son Absalom was killed. David was absolutely devastated by Absalom’s death, so instead of celebrating the victory of his "enemy," David returned home, weeping over the loss of his child. Apparently, Joab didn’t like that:
2 SAMUEL 18
Outside of Jesus’s cry of abandonment on the cross, this chapter contains, perhaps, the most heart-wrenching cry in the Bible: "O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!" (vs 33) Sure, at first you might think any father would be devastated over the loss of a child. But this wasn’t your average child. Absalom wasn’t a good boy. In fact, when he was killed, he had one goal in mind: to murder his father.
Photo © Unsplash/Jenn Evelyn-Ann
Esau is known as the one
who sold his birthright
and forfeited his blessing—
not the one "favored" by God,
not the one destined to be in that family tree,
not one of the "children of promise."
As between him and his brother Jacob,
Esau was not the "blessed" one,
but have you ever read a more blessed genealogy
in the entire Bible?
No barren women,
no tragedies,
no hardships,
no scandals,
no poverty—in fact, the opposite—
so much wealth the family had to move to a larger land.
By contrast, those "blessed" of God
met frequent hardship and troubles—
their genealogies littered with innumerable obstacles:
barrenness, injustice, illness, death.
It was after, after! Jacob decided to
fulfill his vow to God
commit his life to the Lord and
return to the sacred place of his Creator
that his family was besieged by
sickness and unexpected death—
burying, in rapid succession,
first Deborah, then Rachel, then Isaac.
Is burden a blessing?
Is blessing a burden?
How is it they stroll together so comfortably
hand in hand
like lovers on a Sunday afternoon
in the park?
Photo © Unsplash/Tim Marshall
There was no ark
to save God's heart
when grief crashed in like a flood.
when
regret raindrops
became
pain puddles
that joined up into
remorse rivers
that pooled into
lament lakes
that merged into
sorrow seas
and eventually yielded a
deep blue deluge
over our terminal condition
No—
there was no ark
to save God's heart
when grief crashed in like a flood:
the grief of knowing
the ark he would send us
required room
for no more than
eight.
GENESIS 29
When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb,
but Rachel was barren." (vs 31)
I suppose there could be many ways to interpret such a verse. We could feel sorry for Rachel. Why should she be barren? It’s not her fault that Jacob was so in love with her. Then again, it’s not Leah’s fault that her father tricked Jacob into marrying her either.
Photo © Unsplash/Josh Adamski
How should we understand such a verse? Was God trying to punish Rachel because she was loved? Some people might try to pass this off as the writer’s interpretation of why Leah had so many babies and Rachel had so few. In a culture where the god was seen as responsible for everything, they reason, if a woman was barren, it had to be seen as God’s doing.
Photo © shutterstock.com/altanaka
Regardless of the interpretation, though, I love how the writer of Genesis places God squarely in line with loving the unloved. He has a tender spot for the neglected. He has sympathy for the brokenhearted. And I love the idea that God comforted Leah all He could by blessing her with children... and male children to boot!
One of my favorite songs is a ballad by Wayne Watson called, "Friend of a Wounded Heart." Whenever we’re lonely or feel beaten down, neglected, or unloved, we should remember that our God has "been there, done that." He knows what it means to be cast aside. He knows what it means to be ignored. And there is a special place in His heart for anyone who has ever been unloved.
