How has it come to this?

How?

How has it come to this?

This is the main theme in the first poem of Lamentations.

The people are in shock. Wandering around in the rubble of what was once the glorious city of Jerusalem. Their city in ruins. Their lives in ruins. Their families destroyed. Their nation destroyed.

How has this happened?

How has this been allowed to happen?

How did God allow this to happen?

How things have changed! What once was is no longer. What the people took for granted is no more. They remember how things used to be and they mourn.

Once so full of people, the city now lies deserted.

Once so great among the nations, the city is now like a widow.

Once a queen among the provinces, the city is now a slave.

Once surrounded by friends and allies, the city is now all alone.

Once so crowded and bustling, the roads and gateways are now desolate and deserted.

 

In the days of her affliction and wandering
Jerusalem remembers all the treasures
that were hers in days of old.  Lamentations 1:7

When times are tough, we can’t help but remember back to the good old days. When we had treasures that we didn’t even realise at the time. That we took for granted because we didn’t know it would all change.

I look back to my childhood as a time when I was really happy. Carefree. Loved. Secure in that love. I had an older brother who I adored. Who let me hang around with him and his friends. He seemed to enjoy being with me too. Then he went off to university and it was never the same again. I missed him so much. I felt so alone. So abandoned. So adrift. We’ve never found a way to reconnect again, never re-established that bond. We live at other ends of the country living separate lives and don’t really find ways to communicate. I still yearn for that now though.

I look back to when Courtney was young. She was such a positive child. Game for anything. Sunny, smiley, happy. We had such a strong bond and enjoyed being with each other. So many good times. She was open and caring and generous. Then at about 10, things started to change. She became more secretive, more chaotic, more disruptive. I became the enemy. I mourn what we had. I grieve for the happiness she knew then. I would give anything to find that connection again. It makes my heart literally ache to reflect on where we are now. I yearn every day for what now lies in broken pieces to be restored and repaired.

I look back to when I was really involved in the church. When we moved to this house to be near the church. When I felt involved and included. When I was giving and sharing of myself and that was received as a good thing. That was a really, really good time. Then various things happened (faults on both sides) that changed all that. That feeling I now experience of exile hurts me inside. I yearn to belong and be part of God’s ministry in that place. I’m holding out for that day.

We can agonise over the how and why of these painful changes in our lives. These shifts and rifts and that we wish with all our hearts had never happened. We will probably never find satisfactory answers to any of that though. What is important though is to identify these areas of loss in our lives and recognise the pain that we carry into our everyday lives.

How?

How has it come to this?

That broken relationship.

That loss of a job.

That removal of a role.

That alienation from our children.

That diminishing of health – physical or mental.

That injury that stopped us doing something we loved.

That falling out with a friend.

Any of these. All of these. We can bring them before God and lament. We can remember how things were. We can give thanks for how things were. And we can learn how to mourn our loss.