Lamentations 2

"Cry aloud before the Lord,

O walls of beautiful Jerusalem!

Let your tears flow like a river day and night.

Give yourselves no rest; give your eyes no relief.

Rise during the night and cry out.

Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord.

Lift up your hands to him in prayer, pleading for your children.

In every street they are faint with hunger."

Lamentations 2

Lament = to express or feel sorrow or regret; to mourn.

     Should I fear grieving or mourning? Should I fear feeling sorrow. No. Why? From what I understand - and am beginning to understand more and more - God has it a part of His heart on a daily, constant basis. What does He mourn? People not knowing who He truly is. People not looking to Him for help when He has promised to be a Good Father. People going astray and following after destructive ways. People doing injustice to one another. People killing and stealing. People being jealous. People envying. Anything that does not line up with how God would have us live causes Him to mourn.

     God's mourning comes with rejoicing. It is possible to mourn and rejoice all at once. It is possible to have many emotions going on at once. God lives in that reality all the time. His rejoicing, while mourning, comes because of His Son, Jesus coming to rescue us from that which would kill us: Sin. Christ came to save us from an eternity separated from God's amazing Love - from Himself. Hallelujah! That can cause our hands to be raised - in praise and in extreme grief. 

     Many have said yes to receiving the greatest gift - salvation through Jesus Christ - but many have not. There-in lies the two-fold dynamic of grief and praise.

     Wherever you find yourself today, gentle reader, know that God's mercy and grace is new. His arm is never too short to save, His ear never too dull to listen, and His arms never too busy for Him to hold you.