Aren't lamentations (by definition) expressions of sorrow? Well, yeah. Yeah, they are.
But if there's one thing I've learned about the Christian life from the Bible, things are not always what they seem.
Have you read the book of Lamentations in the Bible lately? It's a pretty depressing book. There are a lot of, ahem, expressions of sorrow - i.e., lamentations.
But chapter 3 sits smack dab in the middle with a glowing picture of happiness and hope in the midst of a book mourning God's judgment. The author recognizes that God is sovereign over suffering and is a just Judge but He is also the comforter and a loving Father to His children.
I find this passage overwhelming with comfort. Take it in today.
Even in the midst of suffering, we can have happiness and hope in a God who loves.
He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD.”
Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
- Lamentations 3:16-27 ESV