Pastoring without tears
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The tears of grieving people come at unexpected times. They are not just in Chapter 1 and then they dry up. Notice that the references to tears run throughout the book. My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, until the Lord from heaven looks down and sees (Lam. My eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people (Lam. 1:2).įor these things I weep my eyes flow with tears for a comforter is far from me (Lam. She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks (Lam. So let the tears flow! Don’t hold them back. He gave us these ducts for a reason! Tears are a release valve for pain. Tears are the shuddering of the body at the pain of the soul. And more than any other book of the Bible, it speaks to those who grieve today. Lamentations is a cry from the depths of pain, sorrow and loss. It is called Lamentations because it is the lament of people who survived unspeakable loss, and then had to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives and somehow find the strength to carry on. Lamentations describes, in excruciating detail, the grief and sorrow that resulted from the siege and eventual collapse of Jerusalem in 586 BC.
Pastoring without tears how to#
And God has given us the book of Lamentations to address the issue of grief – an entire book of the Bible that shows us how to navigate this valley. The Depths of GriefĪll of us will walk through the valley of grief and loss in different times and in different ways. They feel like they’re being torn in two. Those who are bereaved feel that they have been robbed or plundered, like having something or someone who is dearly loved taken away. The word ‘reaved’ means to rob, plunder, or tear away. When people lose loved ones, we speak of them as being bereaved. Packer describes grief as “the inward desolation that follows the losing of something or someone we loved – a child, a relative, an actual or anticipated life partner, a pet, a job, one’s home, one’s hopes, one’s health or whatever.” The key words here, of course, are ‘love’ and ‘loss.’ Grief is the process of adapting to the loss of something or someone that we loved. Sooner or later, all of us will walk the path of sorrow and loss.