Laments

Recently, I had to read the book of Lamentations for my ministry class. If you've never read it, Lamentations is absolutely the most depressing book of the Bible. It has to do with the pain someone is going through when they are in captivity (I'm not sure if it's Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, or what, but it is someone in slavery). Reading Lamentations was getting my mood good and gloomy until I read this one verse, and later another that stopped and made me think. 

2:19 

"Arise, cry out in the night, 

as the watches of the night begin; 

pour out your heart like water 

in the presence of the Lord. 

Lift up your hands to Him..." 

and

3:55-57

"I called on your name, Lord,

from the depths of the pit.

You heard my plea: 'Do not close your

ears

to my cry for relief.'

You came near when I called You

and You said, 'Do Not Fear."

These are the only sections that really stuck out to me through the "doom and gloom" of Lamentations. I realize that the book served its exact purpose, to lament or express the sorrow of the situation, but these verses are different. They both express hope. The rest of the book talks about how horrible the situation is, but these are telling you that God can hear you!  Isn't that amazing? 

There are so many times, that bad things are going on, and I just let them fester. I have NO hope that they will get better. Somehow this person (in a much worse situation that me) is able to find hope. So there must be a way for me to find hope in the storm. 

So from now on when things are going awry this is my goal: to stop and lament to God. 

I need a process to do this correctly, so the verses tell me what that process should be.

1. "Pour out your heart." Tell God Everything that is happening, give it your all and give it to him. 

2. Listen. I need to stop after my lament, and listen for the Lord to say, "Do Not Fear." Because I honestly believe that God will speak to me, if I have enough faith to listen. 

So lament, be sad, and let God handle it all, He most certainly will.

-Andy