Not many of us have experienced a city being abandoned. We don’t know what it is like to have a foreign army drive out the citizens of a city and take captive anyone who remains. We cannot fully understand the feelings of helplessness, loss, grief, and depression.
The Israelites experienced all of it when they were defeated by the Babylonians. They had been taught their entire lives that they were God’s chosen people. They thought God would never allow them to be defeated. Unfortunately, they did not abide by God’s commands.
A desolate and empty city is eerie. I remember going to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina came ashore on August 29, 2005. Our group of volunteers were there during the week of Thanksgiving. The city was nearly empty. It was mostly volunteers who were working on clean-up who were there. On our last day of mucking out houses, we went to a subdivision of approximately sixty to eighty homes. There was one other clean-up crew and ours. The streets were empty. There were no vehicles. There was no one there. It felt like a place from a science fiction apocalypse movie. Despite the sun being out, it seemed everything was gray.
Though we may not experience the utter devastation of war or natural disasters, we experience other types devastating events. They may be smaller in scale but no less impactful. When we experience them, we may wonder where God is. We may think God has abandoned us. It is good for us to cry out to him. It is good to ask him why and ask him to show himself in our grief.
We have been promised that God will never leave us, even if we ignore him. He will hear our laments. He will hear our cry. As we turn back to him, he will be there to comfort us and provide for us. It is challenging to believe it in the midst of our grief. Yet, it is in our grief that we need to cling to him the most. We need to hold onto our faith in God always.
I pray we all know that God will never leave us. I pray we cling to God every moment of every day. I pray each one of us cry out to God and seek his comfort during a time of grief. God is always with you. Cling to God every day. Cry out to God in your grief. Seek God’s comfort.
Lamentations 1:1
How lonely sits the city
that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has become,
she that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among the provinces
has become subject to forced labor.
Marty Pressey 