As Christian poets and writers, we have an endless source of ideas in our Judeo-Christian Bibles (aka OT and NT.) We’ve also encountered hard times and heard about those difficulties that happened to friends, family, or the day’s headlines. With God’s guidance, connecting those experiences with appropriate scripture can help our readers to know they’re not alone, and, more important, have the Lord on their side. The Psalms offer many examples of this, so let’s look some other numerous examples in the Bible:
In Lamentations 3, the prophet Jeremiah wrote about his misery. Here’s how the King James Version of the Bible presents those times:
1. I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
2. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
3. Surely against me is He turned; He turneth His hand against me all the day.
4. My flesh and my skin hath He made old; He hath broken my bones.
5. He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
6. He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
7. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: He hath made my chain heavy.
8. Also when I cry and shout, He shutteth out my prayer.
9. He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, He hath made my paths crooked.
10. He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
11. He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: He hath made me desolate.
12. He hath bent His bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13. He hath caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my reins.
14. I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
15. He hath filled me with bitterness, He hath made me drunken with wormwood.
16. He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, He hath covered me with ashes.
17. And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
18. And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
That’s a lot of trials and tribulations!
At times, many of us have wondered if our prayers were being heard. I have, and after the deaths of close friends and family members, I’ve felt terribly sad and lonely. I suspect you, too, can identify with some of Jeremiah’s difficulties.
Occasionally known as the “weeping prophet,” Jeremiah lived over 500 years before Christ, and yet his faith in God sets a good example for us to end laments today in our contemporary writings.
Jeremiah's Hope
19. Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
21. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22. It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
23. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.24. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him.
For other examples, fast forward to the New Testament: Everyone who was acquainted with Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, surely knew how much she wanted a child, but many, many years went by, and nothing happened. Her family likely shared her sorrow, but when they heard of the birth of John, all that immediately changed.
“Elizabeth’s neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown very great mercy, and they shared her joy,” Luke 1:58.
After the crucifixion and burial of Jesus, His disciples and other followers suffered profound grief, confusion, and disappointment. Then early Sunday morning, the women who had stayed by Him, went to the graveside, only to discover the tomb open and an Angel of the Lord in brilliant white clothing sitting on the huge stone.
“So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell Jesus’ disciples,” Matthew 28:8.
That Bible passage illustrates the ultimate joy through Jesus’ resurrection, but that joyful delight came after the saddest day ever experienced – even for God the Father.
With the Lord in our lives, our writings in every genre can express the joy of the Lord. Readers can relate and take hope as they learn of difficult times and see how God brought unexpected joy and good as only He can.
