Walk 'N Weep

Lamentations 3:37 to 5

Lam Ch 3:38 “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?”

44 “You have covered Yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.”

49 “My eyes flow unceasingly without relief.”

Ch 4:12 “The kings did not believe

Nor did any of the world’s people,

That enemies and foes would enter the gates of Jerusalem.

13 But it happened

Because of the sins of her prophets

And the iniquities of her priests

Who shed within her the blood of the righteous.”

18 The LORD Himself has scattered them.

He no longer watches over them;

The priests are shown to honor,

And the elders no favor.”

Ch 5:14 “The elders have gone from the city gate,

The young men have stopped their music.

15 The joy is gone from our hearts;

Our dancing has turned to mourning. “

These are the words of the people who lived through the prophesy of Jeremiah 19 as it came true. The disaster that made the ears tingle of everyone who heard about it. (vs3) This nation that was smashed like a clay jar and could not be repaired (vs 11). 

All these words are equally terrible, and we walk with this people through this story.  And hear their cry and their heart break.  Like we walk beside those on our paths who go through unimaginable sorrow and loss. 

And yet we walk. We walk together and we don’t turn our faces away when the walk gets hard and we lament and weep together.  Because together is so much better than alone. 

Today’s readings really strike a chord with me.  These heart strings that tie us to each other.   These Lamentations, these weeping songs that rise out of deep places.  So full of emotion and despair in what the eyes of the people see and suffer through.  The graphic descriptions of living out the prophesies of Jeremiah. 

Real roads, and real rubble. 

Real words of real people wondering if anyone sees them in their agony.  Robbed of the joy in their hearts.  With no music.  Words for our walking that God does not abandon the works of His hands and God sees us right where we are.

Maybe these songs are here tor remind us why we are here with other.  That we are not alone, and that we are not forgotten or unseen or unnoticed. And that our God is God of the fatherless and the widow and the single mom.  That He uses you and me to be His arms and His hands and His feet to embrace each other and to lift each other up and to walk these miles together.  Just to link arms when we see someone’s wet cheeks.   Til our mourning turns back to dancing.

I see you!

I hear you!