Lamentations 2:17-22: a reflection

17The LORD has done that which he planned. He has fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old. He has thrown down, and has not pitied. He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you. He has exalted the horn of your adversaries. 18Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief. Don’t let your eyes rest. 19Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street. 20“Look, LORD, and see to whom you have done thus! Should the women eat their offspring, the children that they held and bounced on their knees? Should the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21“The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets. My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of your anger. You have slaughtered, and not pitied. 22“You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side. There was no one that escaped or remained in the day of the LORD’s anger. My enemy has consumed those whom I have cared for and brought up.

Lamentations is a book of raw grief over the destruction of Jerusalem, and this passage spares us none of the devastation: the city is thrown down, the people struck, the young and old fallen. It is a scene of overwhelming loss. And yet, in the midst of it, the sufferer is urged to do something with the anguish: Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Even in devastation, the grief is to be brought to God, poured out before him.

Notice where the grief is directed: before the face of the Lord. The sufferer does not turn away from God in the disaster, nor merely wail into the void; he is urged to pour out his heart to God, to bring the raw anguish, the hard questions, even the complaints, directly into God's presence. Grief is not hidden from God or carried away from him; it is poured out before him, like water, held back nothing.

That is a lesson in what to do with our deepest anguish. When devastation and grief come, we may be tempted to turn away from God, or to hide our real feelings behind polite prayers, or to carry our pain alone. But Lamentations shows another way: pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Bring your rawest grief, your hardest questions, your anguish, directly to God, holding nothing back. To pour out our hearts to God, even in devastation, is itself an act of faith, a turning toward him rather than away. When you are overwhelmed, do not turn from God or hide your heart; pour it out before him, like water, and trust that he receives the honest anguish of those who bring it to him.

Lord, in the midst of overwhelming devastation, Lamentations urges the sufferer to pour out his heart like water before your face, bringing the raw anguish, the hard questions, even the complaints, directly into your presence. Teach me what to do with my own deepest grief. When devastation and sorrow come, I may be tempted to turn away from you, or to hide my real feelings behind polite prayers, or to carry my pain alone. But your word shows me another way: to pour out my heart like water before you, holding nothing back. Help me bring my rawest grief, my hardest questions, my anguish, directly to you. Let me see that to pour out my heart to you, even in devastation, is itself an act of faith, a turning toward you rather than away. When I am overwhelmed, keep me from turning from you or hiding my heart; help me pour it out before you, and trust that you receive the honest anguish of those who bring it to you.