SWEET SORROW | LAMENT IN THE AGE OF COVID

By Jill Roberts and Michael Canalé

 

Michael raised the subject of sorrow this week, as we were talking about the season of Covid and the losses we are all suffering in so many aspects of our lives. What was both extremely compelling, as well as interestingly counterintuitive, were the words Michael went on to say. He spoke of “sweet sorrow,” and added that it is a place, somewhere one can be in or visit and, therefore, also leave. In the Bible, this concept of sweet sorrow is called lament. It is something that is found in both the Old and New Testaments where it evidences God’s provision of immeasurable sanctuary, a peace that we, too, can experience, even in the midst of a pandemic.

 

This week, Michael and I will share Biblical examples of lament from both Testaments. However, before doing so, it is important to further define the word “lament.” Lament “is a tool that God’s people use to navigate pain and suffering, grief or just extreme dissatisfaction with our lives.” (“What is a Lament in the Bible?” from “”Got Questions.”) In view of this, what could be a more efficacious response by us in order to find victory during Covid? It is what Michael terms “a reaching out to God, where we can just be ourselves and so much so, that our cries to him are both completely candid and forthcoming.” Anyhow, God knows, what’s on our minds before we speak or pray a word of lament to Him. In remembering this, we can express raw emotions and be vulnerable. Our Creator is pleased by our transparency, an indication of the trust we are placing in Him. He also applauds our laments, in that they carry with them the belief that He will both listen and respond to them with solutions that He, alone, in His transcendent love and unrivaled power, can provide.

 

In an extraordinary article by N.T. Wright, “Five Things to Know About Lament,” he states that one of these is that lament is a form of proof of our intimate relationship with God. He gives an example from the book, Adopted for Life by Dr. Russell Moore, recounting a story about how, in a foreign country’s orphanage, there were many babies lying in cribs and no one caring for them. Despite this neglect, none of the babies were crying. They had already learned that “no one cared enough to answer. Children who are confident of the love of a caregiver, cry.”

 

To analogize this to our discussion, we see lament as something by which we affirm and acknowledge that the ultimate Caregiver is listening and will respond to our cries for whatever our needs may be, within His will and timing. (1 John 5:14-15) NIV. Because of this, it is the very antithesis of weakness to cry out in the sweet sorrow of which Michael spoke. Our sorrow over any given situation or problem is sweet because, in our lament, we know that we enjoy the reassurance that the Creator of Heaven and Earth is listening. We are not orphaned as these babies were, helpless and bereft of hope; we have a Father in Heaven Who calls us His children, daughters and sons whom He will not leave: 

 

“The LORD, himself, goes before you and will be with you…he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

(Deuteronomy 31:8) NIV

 

“…for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

(Joshua 1:9) NIV

 

In both of these cited verses, Joshua was about to enter the Promised Land, previously experienced only briefly by him. He did not know what was going to happen to him and to those he led, on the next day, month or year. Like us, in this pandemic, he was entering uncharted waters, a territory unexplored for the most part. However, Joshua’s assurance from God was unequivocal. The LORD had gone before him, as He always does, and would be beside him. The same is true of us and even more so, now, in our hour of greatest need.

 

Where, then, in Scripture, do specific men and women turn to God in lament and what do these examples teach us about when and why we, also, should come before Him in this way? Why is lament or sweet sorrow a reflection of our wisdom, not of our weakness?

 

First, as we find unsurprising, this manner of approaching God has been sought in matters of great importance. Clearly, the seminal example of this is in Gethsemane, when Jesus reached out to his Father in lament to ask Him the central question of all time – could this cup of suffering and death on the cross pass from him? Was it possible to save humanity in some other way? At the horrific expense of His Son, whom God the Father loved above all else, this same God, Who promises to never leave or forsake us, made good on that promise by favoring US and our eternal dispositions, over the lament of His own Son. The magnitude of how God suffered to deny an alternative, easier path, is unimaginable! Yet, Jesus accepted his Father’s assessment that the only way to save us was the cross. So, as N.T. Wright said in the aforementioned article, lament can not only be for oneself; it can also function to express solidarity for another – in this case, all of humanity.

 

Jesus sets the example for everything, as Michael always says. When Jesus lamented or reached out to God in his life on this Earth, he punctuated the fact that lament is a proof of relationship. (N.T. Wright) He modeled what we are to do  – to reach out to confirm the intimate connection between us, by turning to our God, our best and most powerful and loving Friend. If we were experiencing trouble in our lives and the President of the United States were our best friend, would we not immediately turn to him or her? I believe that we would think that we had a friend in high places and tap right into this. Yet, the power Who spoke the universe into place, immeasurably dwarfs the influence of any President. And this power is coupled with the love that chose the welfare of our souls over the agony of His beloved Son on the cross. God’s devotion to us is unquestionable after the cross. It cost so heavily for God to say that He is not distant. He proved His desire for relationship and now neither sleeps nor slumbers, so as to avoid missing our call, our lament.

 

In addition to Gethsemane, we find lament in the Book of this name, Lamentations. Here, an entire People, the Israelites, turn to God in lament after their defeat at the hands of the Babylonians and the resulting exile from their beloved homeland.

 

Additionally, there are the Psalms, one-third of which are laments by people like David, who, in extremis both spiritually and physically, sought out God in complete desperation. With regard to the Psalms, we are in close alliance with David addressing the LORD:

 

“My soul is in deep anguish. How long, LORD, how long?”

(Psalm 6:3) NIV

 

“How long LORD…How long…How long?”

(emphasis added)

(Psalm 13:1-2) NIV

 

We are surely battle weary with Covid and asking the same question. The sorrow we are all feeling is a place, as Michael says. It is a place we can leave and transform by reaching out. This sorrow will become sweet as we turn to lament, to the God Who has made himself available to us 24/7. Do we believe that abject sorrow and worry can be changed into peace? Paul believed it when he wrote,

 

“The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation…present your requests to God. And the PEACE which TRANSCENDS all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

(emphasis added)

(Philippians 4:5-7) NIV

 

When Paul found this PEACE, this SWEETNESS, in the face of adversity, it was after his having presented his requests to God.

 

There is a beautiful old hymn, “What a Friend We have in Jesus,” that comes to mind when thinking of this PEACE.  In relevant part, the words go,

 

“Oh, what PEACE we often FORFEIT

Oh what NEEDLESS pain we bear

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer.

 

…Is there TROUBLE ANYWHERE?

We should never be discouraged,

Take it to the Lord in prayer.”

(emphasis added)

 

“Dear Lord,” we may truly lament, “There is trouble EVERYWHERE!” Yes, how accurate such a prayer/lament would be today. When we reach out to God, pouring out our hearts to Him, there is peace, even in the midst of this storm. Where can we be? We can be where Paul was:

 

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed.”

(2 Corinthians 4:8-9) NIV

 

In Gethsemane, Jesus believed in lament. He found the peace it bestows. Believing is a process. Don’t we sometimes echo Mark 9:24:

 

“Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.”

(KJV)

 

May we leave that hollow, hopeless place called sorrow, and, through lament to the God who adores us, cry out for what Michael describes as the “sweet sorrow” of peace, and during these days, deliverance from Covid’s ravages, rescue from its heartbreak.