September 22, 2019
A lamentation is defined this way: the passionate expression of grief or sorrow. Specifically for what we are addressing, it is expressing our grief to God. In the bible, there are four books with major passages of lament; the Psalms, Job, Jeremiah and naturally the book of Lamentations. We are reading one of Jeremiah's lamentations today. And like most of the lamentations in the bible, he expresses grief on behalf of the nation of Israel/Judah also affectionately called Zion. “My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: "Is the Lord not in Zion?'” Jeremiah is crying out because he and the nation feel the loss of the presence of God. He is lamenting the causes for that; the sin of his country, their failure to live up to God's calling and their failure to care for those unable to care for themselves.