A Season of Weeping

Lament–“A passionate expression of grief or sorrow”

Hundreds have been killed by the hurricane in Haiti…and others are in Hurricane Matthew’s path.
Every day, death and destruction seem to grace our television screens and newspaper headlines.
Violence, death, destruction, and so much more.
I don’t know about you, but I feel like lately we are continually
In a season of weeping; a season of lament.

“Weeping may come for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”–Psalm 30:5

The nights, and the darkness seem to be hovering over our heads these days. It feels like a continual rainy dreary day. Will the sun ever come up again? Or will the rain keep pouring down? Will our weeping finally end and turn to a season of dancing?

Remember when I was talking about Job and how his friends simply sat with him. Job himself though was lamenting. Job was shouting to the heavens. I think there are times in our world and even in our lives, when we are like Job. We want to wail to our God. And sometimes we do!!

The thing is God knows when we want to wail and lament. But the reality is that we are really bad at lamenting. Or at least, I think we are. When I look at our broken world, I yearn for God’s peace to come about; the only peace that can pass all human understanding. I want to scream and cry out to our God again and again and again “How long, O Lord, How long?”

But I also get tired of asking that question, yet I know that God says it’s ok to lament; to grieve and to cry out to God. I realize a lot of us get tired and overly weary from the events and brokenness we see in our world each and every day, yet God tells us it’s ok to lament; to cry out; to ask again and again
“How long, O Lord, How long?

For when we lament, we honor that our God is in the business of bringing life out of death. Our God who overcame death and the grave. I am reminded of one of my fave quotes by Clarence W. Hall “Easter says you can put death in the grave, but it won’t stay there.” That’s right, by lamenting and shouting and trusting that God can overcome death and the grave, the Word is made flesh once again. The Word is made flesh through the very laments and cries of our heart in this broken world; knowing that those cries and laments are heard by our God who promises to never leave us or forsake us.

And trusting in that promise, I know that the weeping truly will only last for a while and some day soon, we will be singing and dancing in the streets praising and giving glory to God; our God who calls and claims us as God’s beloved children.

16 thoughts on “A Season of Weeping

  1. I am a lamenter. I admit that. When I am sad…I "sad" for a time – and then it is over and I move on. That sounds cold, but it's not. I learned a long time – a long season of SAD, and even THAT scripture you use today…because JOY & HOPE finally comes and with it a glorious morning. Love you Tara – love what you are doing here. And, that graphic? Gets me every.single.time.

  2. "For when we lament, we honor that our God is in the business of bringing life out of death." I'm convinced that we need to lament more. We need to cry out to God and trust that He will bring about His purposes in the world. He wants us to call out to him and give him our burdens so he can give us his peace.

  3. Your post reminds me of the Christian Stanfield song Even So Come." Have you heard it? Whenever I am in a lamenting mood I play that song and remember that joy will come one glorious day!

  4. So true that there is a place for lament- in many ways it is the right response to some of the things we see happening in the world. And as you say, it's trusting God that he can bring life and that the weeping will not last forever.

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