Finding the will to keep on praising in times of sorrow can be hard but two Old Testament writers show it can be done. Jeremiah, as he wrote Lamentations, and Habakkuk were both deeply troubled with all they saw taking place around them. So they cried out to the Lord and made their sorrow known to him. Verse after verse records the grief that they felt for their people. Yet they both still found a reason and way to praise the Lord.
Habakkuk was grieved by all the wickedness he saw and could not understand why God allowed it to be so. He cried out to the Lord bringing these things before Him and God revealed what would take place later. Which only made Habakkuk more sorrowful as he could not understand why God would allow wicked men to prosper.
You could say Habakkuk was surrounded by sadness as he was witness to the present wickedness but was even made aware of the worse times that were coming for His nation. He in fact found himself so taken with grief that he began to tremble and felt as though he had lost all strength. A level of sorrow few us thankfully ever are forced to experience.
Habakkuk 1:2–4 (ESV)
1 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
Habakkuk 1:6 (ESV)
6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own.
Habakkuk 1:13 (ESV)
13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors
and remain silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?
Habakkuk 3:16 (ESV)
16 I hear, and my body trembles;
my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us.
In Lamentations, Jeremiah tells of the state of fallen Isreal after the Babylonians attacked. Describing the horrific sights all throughout the land. He tells of how the once-great city now sits empty and how people search for even the smallest bit of food. Telling even of how children and adults alike are dying in the streets. Going on to describe the grief he feels in such detail you can’t help but begin to feel even a little of what he felt as you read.
Lamentations 1:1 (ESV)
1 How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like a widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces
has become a slave.
Lamentations 1:11 (ESV)
11 All her people groan
as they search for bread;
they trade their treasures for food
to revive their strength.
“Look, O Lord, and see,
for I am despised.”
Lamentations 2:11–12 (ESV)
11 My eyes are spent with weeping;
my stomach churns;
my bile is poured out to the ground
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
because infants and babies faint
in the streets of the city.
12 They cry to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
as they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosom.
Lamentations 3:1–6 (ESV)
1 I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of his wrath;
2 he has driven and brought me
into darkness without any light;
3 surely against me he turns his hand
again and again the whole day long.
4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;
he has broken my bones;
5 he has besieged and enveloped me
with bitterness and tribulation;
6 he has made me dwell in darkness
like the dead of long ago.
Lamentations 3:46–48 (ESV)
46 “All our enemies
open their mouths against us;
47 panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and destruction;
48 my eyes flow with rivers of tears
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
As we look through the history of Isreal we see times of great joy. When praise rested on the lips of all the people as they saw all their God was doing for them. Yet it is clear that the times described by Jeremiah and Habakkuk were not those times. No these were the bad times. So bad in fact, I cannot begin to describe just how awful they were. Nor can I share every verse they wrote describing the times in which they lived in excruciating detail in this article. But I do recommend you take the time to read both Habakkuk and Lamentations to get the truest sense of the times they lived in.
You will also see that even in those times of great sorrow and grief they were able to still switch gears into praise. Habakkuk did so by telling God that he would trust Him even if things don’t get better because the Lord is his strength. Jeremiah did so by remembering as well as speaking of the greatness of the Lord even in such a tough time.
Habakkuk 3:17–19 (ESV)
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
Lamentations 3:21–24 (ESV)
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
These men prove that reasons to be thankful can always be found and even during times of deep grief it is still possible to praise the Lord. We can respond in the same way they did and end our outpourings of sadness in praise. For the very same reasons they did. God is still good and even if things don’t get better He is still the God of our salvation. So make your sorrow known to God. Tell Him all that you feel and see but don’t stop there.
Don’t allow yourself to live in your grief. Instead, allow God to turn your mourning into joy and offer Him the praise He is worthy of. As God’s people, we are never without a reason to rejoice. God works all things for our good, provides for His people, cares deeply for us, but the greatest reason to praise is the fact that our names are written in the Book of life. Meaning we shall not die but shall receive eternal life in heaven. Where every tear will be wiped away and sorrow will be no more.
Romans 8:28 (ESV)
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
John 3:16 (ESV)
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Luke 10:20 (ESV)
20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Revelation 21:4 (ESV)
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
These and so much more are our reasons to praise the Lord at all times even when walking through the darkest moments of life. It’s okay to be sorrowful and to lament making your grief known to God. Jeremiah and Habakkuk did and so can we. But we must remember that even in those times we are not with our a reason to offer praise to God. Because above all God is great and greatly to be praised!
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