The wisdom of lament, of victory over defeat

Nothing can defeat us if we get this principle and apply it to our lives.  This is the first and only wisdom that is needed when life itself has conspired against us.  It is a gospel wisdom.

In a commentary on Romans 8, John Chrysostom (349 – 407) said,

“Yet those that be against us, so far are they from thwarting us at all, that even without their will they become to us causes of crowns, and procurers of countless blessings, in that God’s wisdom turns their plots unto our salvation and glory.  See how really no one is against us!”

See what this is saying?  No matter what people do to us in this life, we, by our responses, have the victory IF only we can look at the bigger picture — life and eternity are much more than we can see!  Much, much more.

We do not need to insist on having all the answers, victory at every stage, and a way of ameliorating our embarrassment when someone “owns” us... let them own us!  What can their will do to us?  NOTHING.

By entering into this wisdom, we show that we have the wisdom of eternity, the deeper knowledge, stowed and utilised for the power of his kingdom and glory.  But to enter into this wisdom, headlong in the intent of one day owning it, we must commit to it one day at a time for the rest of our lives.

This principle applies within the midst of all personal struggles, not just the interpersonal ones.

There is a way of superintending the struggle.  There is a way of overcoming that which is designed by the enemy to overcome us.  This is a vital word for anyone who would believe it is possible, and from such a belief to have the audacity to make that possibility a reality.

This is the wisdom of lament: 
an overwhelming victory is possible 
even as we’re overwhelmingly defeated.

Live it, and you will know that you’re living it!

We glory in this defeat, and this is exactly what the cross shows us.  Even though Jesus was dead — gone for all money — the absolute enigma of it all is that only at “It is finished!” was there comprehensive, everlasting victory.

Even as Jesus exhaled his last breath, there is an eternal sigh of relief.

Do you get it?  How else do we beam with a smile even in the torment of grief?  It is otherwise a rampant absurdity.

But that beaming smile MUST be underpinned in the reality of lament.  Lament accepts what can never be changed.  Lament is the power of facing an unchangeable truth.  Lament doesn’t need to dissociate, knowing that the enemy of everything good is dissociation from truth.

Please, please, exist in the struggle by facing it, by allowing it in your presence, by allowing it to crush you when it will, by making you supple enough to seek support, by causing you to grow in humility to permit the ebb and flow of grief and acceptance as they come and go, by engaging in the lament, which is to honour the truth and not look away from it.

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The wisdom of lament is evident in having victory over defeat.  The only way we take this into ourselves as a possession is to live it and therefore know it as a blessed way of living in the grief of life.