It’s Silent Saturday. The day before we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.
I’m not asking a question as I normally do in this post, but I’m also not being silent today.
I sit down at my desk to write and the legs of a chair that’s been headed for the junk pile for months now kick out in front of me. I gather it up and calmly set it by the door. By the time I get back to my seat, I’ve had time to ruminate on the other things that have fallen apart in the past month. A stove, a dryer, a sofa make the top of the list.
I sigh and then blurt out so my husband can hear, “I can’t have anything that stays nice, can I?”
Twenty-four hours earlier, I let out another sigh of annoyance and an eye roll at my desk.
Some might think of these as little sins maybe even understandable given the situations in which they happened, but is any sin little?
In the midst of my frustrations, I saw my own personal anger lumped together with the sins and resulting wounds I see in the world around me. My eye roll and sigh, my short comment…they were meant to cut a little at the one who I wanted to do something for me, my husband. He was sitting in the room next to me trying to focus on writing a sermon.
I know all too well how it feels to be on the receiving end of an eye roll, a snippy comment. It hurts. It wounds. They don’t go unnoticed and they make a difference in relationships.
There are bigger wounds I see our world engulfed in for sure, but they all come from the same place. Our human condition of brokenness. A condition of sin that has us wielding things like war, lies, murder, stealing, and all kinds of gracelessness in relationships. It has us experiencing the unfortunate fallout of sin – the curse of death, sickness, and the breakdown of things around us.
There are no little sins, just big brokenness. Some of us are wielding it or are experiencing the effects of it more each day than others.
Today, as I take a step back from the eye roll and the sigh, I see images of Jesus’ crucifixion.
I remember that my sins are wrapped right up with all the sin and resulting brokenness I see around me. The good news is not only that He died for these things, but that His wounds, his death and resurrection, are the only thing that could heal us from them.
I listen to this song.
I remember that in my own laziness in living for God, In my struggle against sin, I have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. (Hebrews 12:4)
I remember that I’m not meant to hang my head in shame, but to look to my hope.
In Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, Mark Vroegop says,
“To be human is to cry. To be Christian is to lament.”
Mark Vroegop
A Christ-follower has the unique perspective of God’s sovereignty to process the strong feelings of sorrow, anger, sadness, and pain in a way that brings them around to hope.
Jesus shows us the way to that in His own processing by use of lament as he shed his own blood for our sin.
He cries out to God:
“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Matthew 27:46
He remembers truth:
“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
Luke 23:43,46
Brother or sister in Christ, do you feel engulfed by your own sin and pain? Is it feeling compounded by what you see happening in the world around you?
Jesus, the bread of life, says,
“…This is my body which is broken for you…”
1 Corinthians 11:24
There is hope. Easter brings hope. After suffering and crying out to the Father, Jesus was truly resurrected from the dead.
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.”
1 Peter 3:18
I’m so certain of that, that I’ll send you a book that tells you the reasons you can believe if you are struggling to do that. Just send me an e-mail with your address and I’ll send this:
Because He suffered, He can help you when you suffer.
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
HEBREWS 4:15
So my silly start to a lament, the complaint about not having anything stay nice, ends with remembering the above truths and this one:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
1 Peter 1:3-9
My desire for nice things that last in my home has changed to thankfulness for what I do have that is unchanging in Christ. He is the bread that, although broken, only multiplies and never perishes, spoils or runs out. He nourishes us spiritually with all that we need in this life.
Lament has been a life-changer for me. It’s given me a biblical way to process minor frustrations as well as pain, loss, and life’s greatest sorrows. Would you like to learn more about lament? I’m having a drawing from my e-mail newsletter list on May 1st! Sign up now for a chance to win Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy by Mark Vroegop. All of my subscribers will be entered!
![Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament by [Mark Vroegop, Joni Eareckson Tada]](https://i0.wp.com/m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41aPR+CmRmL.jpg?resize=196%2C298&ssl=1)
ENCOURAGEMENTS TOWARD GRACE NEWSLETTER
If you are experiencing pain, loss, frustration, or sorrow and are interested in working through the process of lament, I would love to work with you on that. I offer affordable coaching to women including free initial consultation.
amy@wastelandtograceland.com
I’m linking up this week with these awesome bloggers:
Amy, I appreciate your honesty here. Much of what you share resonates with me. Your vulnerability about your expressions of exasperation . . . ummm, yeah. I may have done that a time or two. We find it easy classify our sins by what we consider severity. But truth is, God sees all sin as equal. Thanks for the reminder to see our sin as He does, but also to choose to ask for forgiveness and to walk well before Him. Because what we —or don’t have—this side of heaven is as nothing in light of eternity.
Thank you, Jeanne! I appreciate your sharing and that this resonated with you.
Amy, I appreciate all that you have shared. I am so grateful for the reminder that the work of Easter occurs in my life every day – the forgiveness of sins and the healing of my brokenness. “I remember that my sins are wrapped right up with all the sin and resulting brokenness I see around me. The good news is not only that He died for these things, but that His wounds, his death and resurrection, are the only thing that could heal us from them.” That a beautiful song too!
So thankful for our Wounded Healer, and his convicting grace. You have turned your brush with darkness into a fruitful attitude check for me.
Thank you, Michele!
Thanks, Joanne!
I’m learning just how wounding those eye-rolls and snippy comments can be. I think little of them, but they don’t come from a good place and they place bricks in the walls we build between each other. I think it’s Chris Rice who says something about how we all sin, we just sin differently. It’s sobering to know my disrespectful eye roll is just as ‘bad’ as a rapist violating a woman. Both actions offend God. I have nothing to pat myself on the back over.
Thanks for visiting and sharing, Anita!
So wonderfully written. Thank you for your vulnerability and insights. Yes, we are broken but thank goodness we have Jesus!
Thanks for visiting, Deborah!
Amy, your post really resonates with me. My frustration and snippy remarks come all too easy and I excuse them without much thought. Thank you for reframing these “indiscretions” we tolerate and excuse as sin. Sin Christ’s body was broken for. How grateful I am that by His wounds all of my careless sin is forgiven.
I am confident that the good work Christ has begun in us will be carried through to completion. Blessings, Donna! Thank you…
We’ve had recent deaths of appliances lately. I didn’t react well to the last one…my poor husband. Wonderful reminder today!
I’m sorry we are both feeling the loss of appliances! It’s good to know others can relate to my pain, but I’m sorry you’re in that season as well!
I wonder why we don’t talk about this more. Learning how to lament is a vital part of our human journey. Thanks for sharing this, Amy!
Hi Lisa–I wonder if we are afraid of the complaint part. We see, though, that God can handle that. We are meant to move on from it, but God can handle our initial shock, complaint, fears, and cries for Him to do something. Thanks for visiting, Lisa. Your question is a good one to consider!
Honest personal reflection can bring so much clarity!!
Thank you for visiting! Also brings grace!