“God is in control.”
“All things work together for good.”
“This too shall pass.”
“Don’t complain.”
These are the types of messages we are hearing these days. Even when somebody dies, we say “she is now in heaven,” as if we are not affected.
But how can we be not affected if we can’t even hold proper funerals for our loved ones? What is going to happen to all that stifled grief? Counselors and pastors are bracing for the tsunami of emotional problems resulting from displaced grief that will strike once the pandemic is over.
Meanwhile, in the present, we are haunted by the hunger among the poor, and the isolation, sadness, loneliness, depression, and helplessness haunting many places as a result of the lockdown.
How do we survive this pandemic?
Through lament.
One of the reasons the Old Testament believers were able to endure calamities was they knew how to lament. When their crops failed or there was pestilence, they would gather together to lament. That is why there are so many laments in the Bible, including more than a third of the 150 psalms. There is even a whole book called “Lamentations.”
Unfortunately, we have lost this tradition. For many Christians around the world, the only part of the book of Lamentations they know comes from the hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” which is based on Lamentations 3:22–23. This is the only part of Lamentations quoted by the composer. But the book of Lamentations is more than a declaration of God’s faithfulness. It is also about the reality of hunger and the pain of isolation and grieving.
Weeping. The very first word in Lamentations is a great cry —“ eicha” in Hebrew. This is a funeral cry, similar to the Ilokano funeral cry (dung-aw) “Ay!” A pandemic is a time for mourning. You may not be grieving for one of your relatives, but as I write this, 17 doctors have died of COVID-19, and thousands around the world are mourning loved ones.
Lamentations gives space to weeping and crying: “Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are on her cheeks.” (Lam 1:2)
Isolation. One of the most difficult consequences of COVID-19 for Filipinos is isolation. Some of us find it hard to live a day without going out. But now the roads are empty. The book of Lamentations, too, portrays a city that is deserted: “How deserted lies the city, once so full of people!” (Lam 1:1)
Hunger. Some of us cheerfully sing the lines—”All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!”—because we still have rice and food for the next month. But what about those who don’t?
A friend posted on Facebook about one mother who “allows her kids to sleep longer through the day so they only need to eat twice instead of the usual three meals a day.”
In Lamentations, the poet weeps for the hungry children:
“They say to their mothers,
‘Where is bread and wine?’
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their lives ebb away
in their mothers’ arms.” (Lam 2:11-12)
“Why?”
The people in Lamentations are asking “why?”: “Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long?” (Lam 5:20)
I cannot overemphasize the importance of the question “why?” When people who are suffering ask, “why?”, they are not really seeking an answer or an explanation. They are expressing their agony and pain. Even our Lord asked God “why?” when he cried on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
I find the fact that God allows His people to ask him “why?” empowering, especially during this time when some of our leaders do not allow any form of complaint. If God can be questioned, why can’t we do the same with our leaders? Are they higher than God?
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Dr. Rico Villanueva finished his Ph.D. in the Old Testament from the University of Bristol, United Kingdom. He is regional commissioning editor for Langham Publications, and teaches Sacred Scripture at the Loyola School of Theology in Ateneo de Manila and the Asia Graduate School of Theology.