"Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger."
Lamentations 1:12
The personification of Jerusalem strikes me in this verse and the remaining chapter. Jerusalem is mourning all that she has lost. She acknowledges that she rebelled and sees her own failures... she sees justice in all that has been done in breaking her covenant with God. And covenant failure seems part for the course honestly. We all fail, and fall... and yet, here Jerusalem is personified as feeling regret and wanting things to be right again. She pleads with the Lord in her failure. We are there too... failing and wanting salvation anyway. That's one of the great mercies of Jesus Christ. He sees us in our failure and our despair, and he hears us and loves us, and instead of leaving us comfortless, he reaches out, still, to show us a way back... back to him, back to healing and hope.
Let's call out to God in our despair, as Jerusalem does here, and accept his offer of help and healing and a way back. And when we see the need, let's do so for others as well. Let's not condemn people for past mistakes, but instead lift and help, and restore hope where we can, just as God does for us.
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