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“Lamenting With God”
Categories: Monday Morning MeditationYesterday we looked at Jesus' reaction to the death of His beloved friend Lazarus in John 11. When He saw the effects of sin as manifested in death, and the pain, grief, and emptiness that accompanied it Jesus was indignant and brought to weeping. It is a somewhat rare glimpse into the psyche and heart of Jesus/God and how they feel about a world riddled with and ruined by sin. But there is something remarkable about this reaction that Joe drew attention to which we failed to point out yesterday. It is the fact that Jesus knew what He would do, knew that Lazarus would rise from the dead, and that it would all get better in the end. Yet that doesn't erase the pain He felt in the moment or His visible and public lament.
Our Hope (not merely our wish, but our confident expectation) is that God will set everything right in the end, all wrongs will be righted, all that's ruined will be rebuilt. This gives us joy and reason to persevere. It helps us to get through the pain we face in this life. But it doesn't diminish it. If Jesus' response shows us anything, it is that it is proper to lament what is wrong in the world. It is not a lack of faith, or a worldly reaction/focus. Instead it is a confession, a recognition, that things are not what were intended to be, what they should be, or what they will be. It is the faithful response of God's people living in the here and now. When we encounter the brokenness of our world let us not become callous or unconcerned because "every little thing will be alright" but let us allow ourselves space and time to mourn it, and lament it along with our God as He mourns with us, as we await something so much better.
