Images of bombed out destruction flash in my mind as I read the opening verses of Lamentations. Images of utter destruction and piles of rubble. Smoke still ascending from burned out ruins. Clouds of dust overshadowing a decimated landscape. And I sit in these opening lines . . .
How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like a widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces
has become a slave.
She weeps bitterly in the night
with tears on her cheeks.
(Lamentations 1:1-2a ESV)
Heavy sigh . . .
And it’s not like the prophet, nor the people are unaware of why the city lies in such a state. It’s because “Jerusalem sinned grievously; therefore she became filthy” (1:8a). It’s because “she played fast and loose with life, she never considered tomorrow” (1:9 MSG). And so, “the LORD has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions.”
So, beyond Jerusalem’s destruction is the ever present awareness of Jerusalem’s defilement and disgrace. What plays over and over again within this song of lament is the shame of sin. And that’s why a twice repeated, three word prayer pops for me this morning.
“Look, O LORD, and see,
for I am despised.”
“Look, O LORD, for I am in distress;
my stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
because I have been very rebellious.”
(Lamentations 1:11b, 20a ESV)
Look, O LORD . . .
I hover over these words and, given their context, I reach for my brown colored-pencil and shade them. I shade them with the color of grace. For that alone, it seems to me, is the only reason anyone who has sinned as Jerusalem has sinned could dare to raise their head and call out to the God who has righteously and justly judged them (1:18a).
Shame has a way of causing the head to hang low. A way of causing the face to turn away. A way of averting the eyes from looking up. But shame, when leveraged of the Spirit, can produce fruit seeded of repentance as it compels the lowly and contrite in heart to cry out in humility, “Look, O LORD!”
For, far from being a vain plea, it is a hopeful cry which, at its heart, longs to believe the truth that the God who is able to show wrath and fierce anger is, by His very nature, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex. 34:6). Hence, the brown colored pencil.
We cry out to the Holy One in our unholiness because of grace. Because in our shame, we know there is a Savior. Because in our crushed estate, we can look to an empty cross. Because in our complete brokenness, we believe there is the cleansing blood. And so, we cry amidst the ruins of shame, “Look, O LORD.”
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(1John, 1:9 ESV)
Yes and amen!
Even so . . .
“Look, O LORD.”
Because of Your grace. That it might be for Your glory.
