A BIBLICAL APPROACH TO PERSONAL SUFFERING, by Walter C. Kaiser

A Brief Book Summary from Books At a Glance

by Steve West

 

Table of Contents

1 Coping with Grief
2 Taking Suffering Personally
3 Finding Hope in the Face of Adversity
4 Putting a Name to Pain
5 Remembering that God Still Reigns
Conclusion: Suffering in the Old Testament

 

Summary

 

Introduction

The Book of Lamentations is an exemplary treatment of the problem of personal agony and communal suffering. Nothing that we say can take all the pain out of suffering, and the Bible is clear that suffering and pain are very real in this world. “The most comforting news Scripture has for the sufferer is that where pain, grief, and hurt are, there is God.” Lamentations shows us that grief should be expressed to God, and grief is also poured out in community rather than in complete isolation. It consists of acrostic poems, and the literary structure of the acrostic prevents people from speeding through the material or glossing over it. In this way, the literary medium is part of the message. Grief, suffering, and pain cannot be abbreviated; we need to give them proper time and we cannot short-cut the process of working through them. However, there is also a time to move on in growth, so that grief is not the final word that dominates all our experience.

The historical context of Lamentations is the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians. This event consisted of real sounds, smells, sights, and individual people, and its horror cannot be exaggerated. Nonetheless, locating the pain in its historical context is necessary for proper perspective: it is a finite event and is surrounded by other historical events and realities. The internal structure of Lamentations clearly points to the third chapter as the book’s crescendo, where the prophet reflects on the faithfulness and love of God that gives hope even in the darkest times. In this pivotal chapter, verses 22-24 are the focal point. These verses can be translated: “[It is proof of] the gracious-love of the Lord that we are not consumed, for His compassions fail not; [they are] new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my inheritance, says my soul; therefore, I hope in Him.” The final chapter of Lamentations is a prayer to God, making petitions in hope for the future. Jeremiah has traditionally been seen as the author of Lamentations, and despite objections some scholars have made at this point, we conclude that Jeremiah was the author of each poem in the book. His pain came from seeing the complete destruction of the city and the temple, coupled with widespread violence, death, and exile.

Lamentations deals with calamity on a national scale (whereas Job focuses on individual suffering). It wrestles with questions of God’s activity, control, love, and care in a world filled with pain and destruction. God’s anger and wrath cannot be ignored, but even in their outpouring there is love for his people. His actions are tied to his covenant bonds; his wrath is personal. Even in the midst of wrath, God’s love and faithfulness were new every morning; this is the foundation for hope. There is much that we still do not understand about Hebrew poetic forms, but the meter and style in Lamentations creates a limping, unfinished feel for the reader that accentuates the heavy heartedness of the content. For Christians, Lamentations can help orient us in our pain, help us organize our approach to God, and focus us on God’s love and faithfulness.

 

Chapter 1: Coping with Grief

The first poem in Lamentations repeats its theme five times: “There is no one to comfort” (vv. 2, 9, 16, 17, 21). Jerusalem is personified as an abandoned woman who is without comfort and has no resting place. Far from being Stoic, this poem shows us that we can grieve, mourn, and pour our pain out to God. The poem begins with the third person, but as it develops it turns to the first person, making the poem and experience more deeply personal. At the beginning the poet is talking about Jerusalem, but in the end Jerusalem speaks for herself. The beginning is a bitter complaint, but the end shifts to a confession of sin and acknowledgement that the Lord has always been in the right.

The repetition of the lack of comfort provides the tone, but 1:18 is the focal point of the poem. It declares that the Lord is in the right because his people rebelled against his word. No matter how great the suffering or heavy the judgment, God always acts with justice and righteousness; he never sins, errs, or does anything wrong. If his people had been obedient, they would never have experienced this judgment. Lamentations 1 teaches us about coping with grief. It vividly sets out the loneliness that Jerusalem experiences in her pain, as she is cut off from the comfort of friends and God. In her isolation she remembers better times, but these times are no more. She is utterly helpless. This situation has come about because of her sin, which has shamed and desecrated her. Her punishment is severe, but it is an act of mercy to break her yoke of sin and to eventually turn her back to her covenant Lord. Reflecting on God’s purposes amid her pain and suffering allows her to acknowledge that God is right, and it is to him that our pleas must be directed. Petitions needed be offered for forgiveness and restoration. . . .

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