Response To Psalm's Lamentations

In Lamentations, the writer discussed Jerusalem being invaded by an enemy. She was powerful and important to many people. The chapter continues to explain that the city is broken and she is a widow having to follow orders from a foreign king. She is depressed, and she mourns the loss of her people and continues to mourn to God. The people in Zion were sinful and wicked; God allowed Babylon to take over the city to show their consequences for being sinful. She continues to mourn and asks God to give Babylon justice. In the rest of Lamentations, it discusses the weeping and asking God for forgiveness. God proves that he is still watching over them by telling the poet “don’t be afraid.” This chapter is very similar to Psalms 137; the Israelites don’t want to be in exile anymore because they are farther from God’s land. In the beginning of Psalms 137, it talks about revenge and later it shows resistance to faith under the circumstances of being exile in Babylon. Lamentations’ and Psalms’ grief are

It is important to express feelings after a tragedy because it helps the person get through it. It’s better to let it all out than keeping it to yourself and overthinking everything. I think the books of Lamentations and Psalms did serve a purpose in ancient Israel because both stories represent different circumstances of grief. Each of the stories represents what God is capable of. “The communal function of this psalm is to act out and transmit to the next generation the yearning…” (Brueggemann 75). I think both stories are telling us to follow God’s order, and if you don’t there are consequences, which are represented in both chapters in two different scenarios. The type of tools or rituals depends on your preferences of religion and your personal values. Some tools are counseling, writing in a journal, physical activity and many