Session 15 · Lamentations 3:31-33
His "Natural" Work and His "Strange" Work
Mercy is his home; judgment is the visit
Book reading: Chapter 15: His "Natural" Work and His "Strange" Work
Lamentations is a book of grief. Jerusalem has fallen, and in the middle of the wreckage the poet writes these lines: “For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.”
Lamentations 3 is a poem built as an acrostic, in which the verses follow a pattern of Hebrew letters. That fits what it does. It does not let sorrow run wild. It gives grief a shape and then, in the middle, gives it hope. Ortlund's chapter reads these verses and draws a distinction. Mercy, the book argues, is God's natural work. Judgment is his strange work. Isaiah 28:21 uses that sort of language, calling God's judgment his “strange” work. In Jeremiah 32:41, God says he delights to do his people good. The point is that mercy comes out of who God is, while judgment is something he does with sorrow.
Look at the phrase “he does not afflict from his heart.” It does not say God never afflicts. It says that when he does, it does not flow from the center of who he is. Compare a parent who disciplines a child out of love with one who lashes out in rage. Both may act, but the heart behind the action is very different.
Notice also that the book does not shrink wrath. The poet in Lamentations is not denying judgment, and neither is Ortlund. Sin matters. The Lord is serious about evil. The question the book asks is a helpful one: who is more likely to ask for mercy, the person who believes God's wrath is real or the person who does not? Mercy means something only to someone who knows what they need to be spared from.
One plain sentence is important here. The wrongs other people do to you, including abuse, are not God's will for you. Lamentations 3 speaks about God's own discipline of his people, not about evil done to you by others. If you are carrying harm that someone did to you, please talk with a pastor or counselor. You deserve safety and care, and you do not have to sit with it alone.
For everyone else, here is the practice: hold both truths without shrinking either one. Wrath is real, mercy is his heart, and neither cancels the other.
God himself ends by pleading, not threatening. Through Ezekiel (33:10-11), when his people feel crushed by their sin and ask how they can live, he swears that he takes no pleasure in anyone's death. His cry is to turn back from evil and live, because he does not want them to die.
Key idea
Mercy is God's natural work, flowing from his heart, and judgment is his strange work. Both are real, but his heart is for turning people back to life.
Questions to consider
- Lamentations 3:33 says God does not afflict from his heart. Think about a time you saw difficulty as God's discipline rather than someone's cruelty. How does the phrase change the way you think about that season? If the pain came from another person's wrong or abuse, how does it help to know that is not God's will for you, and who could you talk to about it?
- Who do you think is more likely to ask for mercy: someone who takes God's wrath seriously, or someone who does not? Which side do you tend to shrink, and what would it look like to take both seriously?
Journal prompt
Write a few lines about which truth you find harder to believe: that God's wrath is real, or that his heart is merciful. Then write a short prayer responding to God's cry in Ezekiel 33 to turn back and live.
Practice
Hold wrath and mercy together without shrinking either. 1) Read Lamentations 3:31-33 once slowly and again aloud. 2) Write two short lists: one of reasons sin is serious, one of reasons God's heart is merciful. 3) Say a two-minute prayer that includes both lists, ending with a request for mercy.