“Listen to my words, Lord,
consider my lament.
Hear my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.”
Psalm 5:1-2 (NIV)
We live in a very good creation and you and I,
along with our neighbours and everyone that comes before and after
us, are the bit of creation that bumped it up from good to very good.
Knowing this makes me feel, well, very good. But…
We live in a very good creation that has been
damaged. We are the bit of creation that did that. Our disobedience
took something that is very good and turned it into something that
is, frankly, very bad at times. Knowing this makes me feel very bad.
But…
The damage is not irrevocable. God gave people
a lot of power and authority, which is why our disobedience had such
a profound effect on creation. However, God did not give us so much
power and authority that he can’t do something about our disobedience
and its impact on creation. A “new creation” is in play here.
We saw day one of this on the first Easter. Jesus’ resurrected
body was the first glimpse of new creation. Creation was saved.
Even though we were the reason creation needed saving in the first
place, God includes even people in salvation. But…
Creation does not appear particularly saved
right now. This is why lament is crucial in ministry.
A complete discussion of the “problem of
evil” is too big both for this short blog post and my mind, so we
are going to have to simply accept that in spite of appearance,
creation is indeed saved and that God indeed saved it. It seems we
are caught in a process. In The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis
considers the idea that God did in fact do something about the
damaged creation and that something is the death and resurrection of
His son. The full result of the resurrection – salvation – is
not yet complete. To me, this looks to be in line with 2 Peter 3:9,
which talks about God’s patience with His return so people will
come to him rather than perish.
Along with God we must be patient too.
Patience, though, does not mean we do not grieve at the sight of evil
and we do not grieve at the sight of pain. We are in a saved
creation that is still rebelling against its salvation. It would be
very odd for the people of God to look at this rebellion,
particularly where it comes to a life that does not flourish (even if
a particular sin is not able to be pinpointed to cause the lack of
flourishment), and not have an emotional reaction. The Bible is full
of people having these reactions. We can have them too.
Lamentation is oftentimes what gets me through
a day. Look at who felt grief in the face of brokenness and evil.
There were prophets, there were kings, there were psalmists, there
were apostles, there was Jesus. If these giants see evil and there
is nothing they can do beyond calling out to God, surely this is
allowed of us too. Surely if Jesus has nothing to do but cry, we have
nothing to do but cry.
Watch what is happening in lament, however. It
is not simply despair. It is grief in the face of brokenness that is
expressed to a good God who we proclaim shares our grief and is doing
something about the situation that grieves us. When I lament, I am
not questioning God’s ability to fix things. Instead, I declare
that God is doing something right now and that I simply don’t see
it. Lament demonstrates our faith in God, otherwise we would see the
broken creation and turn our back on our creator.
