Lamentations…who wants to read a devotional out of the book of lamentations!?    The name means literally, to be passionate about grief or sorrow.   Not coincidentally, Jeremiah is the author of the book, and he was also known as the ‘weepy prophet’. I haven’t told many people this, but I feel as though Jeremiah and I are kindred.  I have not like to dwell on sorrow, but I have recently embraced that it’s where most of my creativity is birthed, and it took me years to realize that God can actually give us the gift of sorrow.  

When I began to see sorrow as a gift rather than a burden, it’s when God has used me for His goodness most.  The parts of me that have been the weakest is where He has shown up the greatest. For years I tried to push pain away, stuff it deep down, and I tried my darnedest to produce a joy that I just couldn’t bring forth.  But when I finally grasped this new concept, everything shifted in me. The Lord turns my sorrow into joy on the daily, but only when I give it to Him. Ah. Amen.  

The fact that Jeremiah wrote this encouraging passage in Lamentations makes my spirit soar, because Jeremiah knows so well that our God is so good to those who wait for him.  I don’t know who may need to hear this right now, but please hear: Whatever you are going through, His desire is to use it for your good.  Whatever pain or trial you may be facing, He will pick up those broken pieces and make something beautiful out of it, like a mosaic crafted by Him.   

We are such a culture of “now, now, now!”  God doesn’t work like that, and His timing is contrary to our fleshly understanding.  We are meant to bring our burdens to Him and then TRUST.  TRUST that God has heard us, and trust that He hasn’t abandoned us when things don’t change in an instant.