Chasing the Rainbow
You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not fear!” Lamentations 3:57 NASB
Near – Lamentations is not high on our list of “good reads.” It’s basically a funeral dirge coupled with tragic poetry about God’s absence. It’s depressing. We would rather read Psalms. Furthermore, since sin is the cause of all this catastrophe, any application of Lamentations of our present situation condemns us. We are just as disobedient as those in Jerusalem who experienced the judgment of the Lord. Maybe that’s why we avoid it. It makes us squirm.
But then we find pearls like this verse scattered among the ruins. God wants us back. He is ready and willing to draw near if we but ask. And He says, “Don’t be afraid to do so.” The verb here is qārab. You might recognize one of its derivatives, qorbān, the word for “sacrifice.” That should help us realize that sacrifices are not ritual appeasement for a wrathful God. They are means for drawing near, for not being afraid to come into God’s presence. If Lamentations is the poetry of despair, buried underneath the wreckage is the invitation to worship, to sacrifice, to come close to the God who is trying, desperately, to recover His lost people.
Lamentations offers us an unusual opportunity. Most of us know something about wreckage. Not every plan succeeded. Not every dream came true. Not every relationship flourished. Not every resolution stuck. More importantly, we are keenly aware of our own internal breakdowns. We know we deserve the Babylonian reprisal. We know we haven’t earned a place in Heaven. We are afraid! If God shows up, we expect affliction and sorrow, judgment and pain.
Instead of “From on high He sent fire into my bones, and it prevailed over them. He has spread a net for my feet; He has turned me back; He has made me desolate, faint all day long. The yoke of my transgressions is bound;” we hear, “Do not fear!”
How can this be? Do you suppose that qārab was the intention all along? “We are moved by a soft religiosity, and would like to think that God is lovely, tender, and familiar, as if faith were a source of comfort, but not readiness for martyrdom. To our mind the terrible threats of castigation bespeak a lack of moderation. Is it not because we are only dimly aware of the full gravity of human failure, of the sufferings inflicted by those who revile God’s demand for justice? There is a cruelty which pardons, just as there is a pity which punishes. Severity must tame whom love cannot win.”[1]
Are you like me, chasing the rainbow? Chasing after the closeness with God that will make life right again? Are you like me, overwhelmed by the devastation of your own self-will, wondering if there is any chance for a rainbow in your life? Perhaps Lamentations is one of those books on the “must read” list. Perhaps it should be the first one on the list.
Topical Index: qārab, draw near, qorbān, sacrifice, Lamentations 3:57
[1] Abraham Heschel, The Prophets: Two Volumes in One (Hendrickson Publishers, 1962), Vol. 2, p. 76.
