Walking in the Light

“Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.”

Lamentations 3:32-33

Lamentations is not everyone’s favorite book. I mean, lamenting isn’t something we love to do. There is a misconception that we must always be joyful when following the Lord, that even through dark times we should still be happy. I would argue it is because godly lamenting isn’t something we think about.

We talk so much about living a life of praise and thanksgiving that we forget Jesus lamented, and we forget that the trying times and the dark times are allowed by God, which relates to this verse.

There are times God allows grief to come to us, and there are times when the gift of free will can feel like a burden. The biggest thing to remember is that God does not want us to suffer, and He does not want us to feel pain. However, He also does not guarantee that we will live a life without grief. Experiencing grief does not mean God has abandoned you.

The verse continues on saying that “… He will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.”

Though God allows grief to enter your life, He wants to help you through it. He has a deep awareness of your suffering and has a strong, active desire to relieve you of that grief. It does not say He might show you compassion, but that He will. Scripture backs this up constantly; the Lord seeks those who are brokenhearted. Just because you are hurting does not mean the Lord is not holding you near to Him.

His compassion comes from His love. His unfailing love. If His love is unfailing, never ending, why would His compassion be? Suffering is not proof that God has stopped loving us.

This world can change, circumstances can change, but that doesn’t mean God’s character has changed.

The final part of this verse is what made me love it. “For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.”

God does not take joy in our suffering. God does not want his children to suffer. There are times he allows it. The word willingly is being used to affirm that He does not delight in it.

We aren’t asked to hide our grief, or try to ignore it. Grief is simply not the whole story. Grief helps us to see the Lord’s heart for us. When Jesus walked on the Earth, He did it for the human experience. Jesus never sinned, though He experienced grief. What a gift to know that we are getting to experience the exact same emotions as our Lord and Savior. More importantly, what a gift to have a God who has a strong, active desire to relieve us of our suffering.

As I said, Lamentations is not everyone’s favorite book of the Bible. I’ve never met a single person who reads Lamentations for kicks and giggles. It is such a helpful book, though. This verse specifically has helped me, as a young woman, learn that I shouldn’t feel guilty about my grieving, that pain doesn’t mean the Lord has forsaken or forgotten me, and that God’s compassion will come through. Maybe not immediately, but it will.

There have been moments in my life when I have sat on the floor of my college dorm room, begging God to bring me peace, and moments later, I found solace in a verse from Psalms. More recently, there was a season of spiritual warfare that lasted a few months; I begged the Lord to grant me peace every single night and every morning. The Lord did not reveal how He had been working over everything for, as I said, a couple of months, but trust me when I say God was working and moving in ways I could not have imagined.

We serve a good and just God. Our timing may not align with His, but at the end of the day, I would rather wait for the Creator of the Universe's compassion than try to get through it on my own.

“Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.”

Lamentations 3:32-33