The biblical book of Lamentations recognizes the hardness of life.
Judah has gone into exile with suffering and hard servitude; she lives now among the nations, and finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.
Life is hard. That’s true. All of us experience occasional difficulties and pains. Many in our world know suffering each and every day. The biblical book of Lamentations recognizes the hardness of life. Yet, when we read it in the context of the whole of Scripture, we learn to acknowledge life’s pains while at the same time looking forward with hope to God’s future.
Several years ago, I kept running into the unhappy thought: Life is hard, and then you die. For some reason, this saying showed up on bumper stickers, t-shirts, and other places where platitudes flourish. In fact, you can go online and buy a cheery mug featuring this saying. I’m not quite sure why the saying became so popular, though I suppose it was an ironic response to the naïve idealism that dominated much of our culture today.
The book of Lamentations might very well agree with those who affirm, “Life is hard, and then you die.” At least the “life is hard” part. The hardness of life was especially apparent to the Jews in the first part of the sixth century B.C. As Babylon asserted its superior power over Judah, the Jews experienced suffering, hard service, and exile. Separated from their homeland, they struggled simply to remain alive. As Lamentations 1:3 puts it, as a scattered people, they found no rest.
In our world, life is hard for everyone at one time or another—though it’s certainly hard for those whose experience is like that of the ancient Jews. People who live under political oppression feel the punishing reality of life each day.
Life may be even harder for exiles, such as those who have fled from Ukraine, who find themselves unwelcome and impoverished in the places where they dwell without a home. Yet the hardness of life isn’t simply a result of political oppression, violence, and injustice. In fact, the theological root of life’s difficulties can be found in the opening chapters of Genesis. There we learn that God created the world fully well, as a place where human beings could flourish. Yet they rejected God and his ways. As a result, life became hard. Women still gave birth but were in extreme pain. Men still worked the soil, but with frustration and discomfort as they battled thorns, thistles, and other hardships. Life is hard, not because God intended it that way from the beginning, but because hardness goes hand in hand with sin.
Those of us who live privileged lives may sometimes assume that life isn’t hard. I know there are challenges in life, but I don’t really think of life as being consistently hard. Yet, when I pay attention to the experiences of people across the globe, when I let myself hear their cries for justice, peace, and rest when I watch the suffering so many people must endure, I’m reminded of the fact that life is hard and that I am incredibly blessed to live with so little suffering.
Biblically-informed people should not be surprised when life is hard. Lamentations is one of many biblical books that underscores the difficulties we face on this earth. Yet, as Christians, we should not live with resignation. We could put a bumper sticker on our car that began with “Life is hard.” But our sticker would have to be a little longer than the usual one. It might say: Life is hard, and, yes, you will die. But, in the meanwhile, God is redeeming this world and you get to share in that redemption through Christ. Yes, life will still be hard, but God will be with you, and then you will die . . . and then you will live forever in the new heaven and the new earth.
Chapter 1 of Lamentations doesn’t reveal this kind of hope for the future, of course. But when we read it in the context of the whole of Scripture, when we see the hardness of life in light of God’s whole story of redemption and restoration, then we are able to acknowledge the hardness of life without hesitation, while at the same time looking forward to the blessings of God’s future.
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