Pursued – Lamentations 1:6

⁶ All splendour has vanished
from the daughter of Zion.
Her princes have become like deer
that can find no pasture.
They run on, their strength spent,
pursued by the hunter.

The Revised English Bible (Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996), La 1:6.

Running can be a very good thing!

For example, you can run for exercise. If you’re fast enough, you can run from a wild animal that might attack you.

But then there is running when there’s nothing to accomplish by it. Some of us have been running from various things in our lives or in our pasts. We’re getting tired. The pursuer is after us. It’s going to get us, yet we just keep running.

The Hebrew text here reads very abruptly. “Their strength spent” in the REB above is “with no strength.” The words are short. The ending to the verse is abrupt. Running continues even when there is no more hope.

And right here is where lament starts to help. When we lament, we acknowledge that bad things have happened to us. We acknowledge that we have done things that are suboptimal. We can admit that running is of no more value. At that point, we can start to accept help. To find a solution.

Recently someone pointed out to me–again!–that I don’t tend to ask for help when I need it. This is quite true. A friend called me and asked me if I needed help because he doubted I would call him. I did. He helped.

This is where the good shepherd going out to find the lost comes in. The running is over. The shepherd is here. We’re going to be on our way home.

The way home would come to Israel, but it was some time in the future. But God’s word doesn’t (and didn’t) return empty.