Lamentations

I was right to dread reading this book. Although my Dad insists that the lament of the author is answered in the end by faith, such is clearly not the case. The book begins and ends with despair, which exactly mirrors my current state of mind. "They heard how I was groaning," I seem to hear myself say, "with no one to comfort me" (1:21). "Why have you forgotten [me] completely?" I ask (5:20).

It is only for the briefest of moments that the writer's wail is lifted long enough for him to realize, "The Lord will not reject forever" (3:31). For a mere seventeen verses of the book, hope shines through the desperate circumstances of Israel at that time, and the lesson is an interesting one. Although the recurring message is that the affliction of the nation is due to the fact that they "have transgressed and rebelled,"(3:42) the author stops feeling sorry for himself long enough to recognize that, even though sins must be repaid, once they are there is no need to reconsider them. The mercies of JEHOVAH "are new every morning," he insists (3:23). Once one has paid for his sins, there is a new moment granted, and new choices can be made to reach a different outcome. I don't happen to subscribe to the ideas of atonement and retribution for sins, but what the author of Lamentations suggests rings true: beat yourself up until midnight if you must, but once a new day arrives move on.