Fasting, Lamentations, and Surely We Can Change

Today is another fast day during Lent for me. Liquids only. Fruit juice, tea, water. (I get severe headaches if I don’t add the fruit juice thanks to the fluctuations in blood sugar.) Today’s fast wasn’t scheduled, it just seemed to flow naturally from the time of prayer and meditation I had last night, a time that seemed to carry itself right on through my sleep. A place of talking to the Lord about my own life, and the lives of those I love. Of standing in the gap and crying out.

I read Lamentations last night. Was caught by it once again. The words of the weeping prophet, crying out to the Lord for the nation and people he loves. The words from a pit, and yet the hope that remains.

The thought of my suffering and homelessness
is bitter beyond words
I will never forget this awful time,
as I grieve over my loss.
Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”
The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.
So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord.
(Lamentations 3:19-26 NLT)

I’ve been listening rather constantly the last few days to David Crowder Band’s latest album “Remedy”. There is something about their music that always speaks to the deepest places that my heart is occupying. I’m caught by the whole album, but this morning, particularly by this last song (Surely We Can Change), and the way it speaks to the themes I find myself thinking and talking about through the course of Lent, and the things I find myself talking with the Lord about on this day of fasting.

And the problem is this
We were bought with a kiss
But the cheek still turned
Even when it wasn’t hit

And I don’t know
What to do with a love like that
And I don’t know
How to be a love like that

When all the love in the world
Is right here among us
And hatred too
And so we must choose
What our hands will do

Where there is pain
Let there be grace
Where there is suffering
Bring serenity
For those afraid
Help them be brave
Where there is misery
Bring expectancy
And surely we can change
Surely we can change
Something

And the problem it seems
Is with you and me
Not the Love who came
To repair everything

Where there is pain
Let us bring grace
Where there is suffering
Bring serenity
For those afraid
Let us be brave
Where there is misery
Let us bring them relief
And surely we can change
Surely we can change
Oh surely we can change
Something

Oh, the world’s about to change
The whole world’s about to change