by Natalie Wynd
Just a few weeks ago I had the privilege of sitting under the teaching of Tori Walker as she taught through the book of lamentations (in about 3 hours!).
Now, Lamentations is a book of the Bible, that, if we are to be honest, a lot of us avoid; yet the teaching from this book is incredibly poignant and practical. It is okay; and quite frankly very important; too be open and honest with God as we pray. It is written in His word that He already knows our thoughts and feelings, so why is it so hard for us to be honest with Him? Why do we not complain and whinge to God like we do to our friends? Why does He get special behaviour form us when in fact it should be the other way around (ie our friends getting the special behaviour and God getting the raw behaviour of us). I feel a lot of these questions can be answered with two words; attitude and culture.
I have been a Christian for many years, but this teaching highlighted a very important point about attitude and prayer (or attitude and any form of communication). One that as a parent I have been trying to teach my children for their whole lives. God says that if we do not obey there will be consequences; He even goes as far as to outline those consequences for us today, and for the Bible characters that we read about. Lamentations outlines one of these consequences. But why is this important? Of all the ‘lamenting’ in lamentations, there is also a lot of rejoicing and proclaiming. God’s people go to Him with their problems, complain (lament) with the correct heart attitude and then immediately proclaim His goodness and mercy, rejoicing in the promises that they know God will keep. The initial situation may not have changed, but the attitude of the individual has. Resting in the promises of God is not easy to do, but it will change who we are as a person.
The world we live in however would like to send us a different message. Rather than a live centred around God, our culture teaches us to centre our world around ourselves, encouraging us to cast blame for a situation or circumstance. If we go to God to lament with this attitude, we immediately begin to blame God, our heart attitude is at cross angles with where our Christian attitude should lie. This makes it incredibly difficult to lament to God honestly, and to proclaim His goodness and mercy as our attitude of self doesn’t allow for listening with our hearts. If we are consumed by self, there is no room for God and His leading in our lives. Never fear though, we can combine living in this world with an attitude of respect and love for God.
Always check your tone and heart attitude before you speak (to anyone); are you just out to yell and blame, or do you have a problem to announce that you are prepared to leave at His feet. God’s love for us will never fail, His mercy endures forever.
Lamentations 3:22,23
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consume, for His compassions never fail. They are new everymorning.
Natalie is a Pastors wife from Dalby, mum to five aged between 18 and 5. She has a passion for nutrition education. She loves Jesus, craft, sewing and coffee with friends.