I liked the way Selwyn describes the difference between grumbling against God and lament.
He writes: “A grumbler has already reached a conclusion about life, has shut down all open-mindedness with questions that are barely concealed accusations.
In contract, a person uttering a lament is expressing a desire to understand what is happening. That person is knocking at the door of God’s heart and saying, ‘Help me comprehend what is going on … ‘ Lament is a cry of agony.
When you lament you are being real with your emotions, being true to how you feel about what has happened to you. But having expressed your feelings, you then fall back on the certainty that God knows exactly what He is doing … “ (and, He is in full control).
I think it comes down to the strength of our relationship with Jesus. We demonstrate the depth of our love for God by accepting (which, in many cases will be very hard) that sometimes bad things do happen to people; and, in many cases we will not be given any answers that would help us, find the purpose behind the suffering. We trust God, and we can see from His terrible death on the cross that He also suffered, and He does fully understands our pain and agony. He responds to our cries with perfect love and compassion.
I’m sure that when we meet Jesus, the suffering we experience in eighty, or so, years on earth will be seen in its proper perspective; as we start our new life with Him, for more than billions of years!
‘The angry psalms’
I liked the way Selwyn describes the difference between grumbling against God and lament.
He writes: “A grumbler has already reached a conclusion about life, has shut down all open-mindedness with questions that are barely concealed accusations.
In contract, a person uttering a lament is expressing a desire to understand what is happening. That person is knocking at the door of God’s heart and saying, ‘Help me comprehend what is going on … ‘ Lament is a cry of agony.
When you lament you are being real with your emotions, being true to how you feel about what has happened to you. But having expressed your feelings, you then fall back on the certainty that God knows exactly what He is doing … “ (and, He is in full control).
I think it comes down to the strength of our relationship with Jesus. We demonstrate the depth of our love for God by accepting (which, in many cases will be very hard) that sometimes bad things do happen to people; and, in many cases we will not be given any answers that would help us, find the purpose behind the suffering. We trust God, and we can see from His terrible death on the cross that He also suffered, and He does fully understands our pain and agony. He responds to our cries with perfect love and compassion.
I’m sure that when we meet Jesus, the suffering we experience in eighty, or so, years on earth will be seen in its proper perspective; as we start our new life with Him, for more than billions of years!