God Did This to Me Because of Us
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks once pointed out that groups respond to adversity and cultural difficulty in one of two ways. One is to say, “What did we do wrong?” The other is to say, “Who did this to us?” Rabbi Sacks points out that most of today’s groups go with the second option. He goes on to point out that historically Jews have been labeled as the group that is the cause of another group’s problems. Sacks’ point is that when one group looks for a scapegoat, danger is just around the corner.
It just so happened that shortly after watching a video of him addressing this I was reading the biblical book of Lamentations. The author, presumably Jeremiah in the Hebraic prophetic tradition, has some of the most beautifully descriptive and heart-wrenching depictions of suffering, longing, and lament. It struck me as I watched the pronouns bounce around between “us” and “me” that Jeremiah perfectly blends the two categories Sacks points out and offers a third.
The origin of the lament comes from the fact that Assyria is hauling Israel into exile. On the surface, this gives a pretty clear “Who did this to us?” type of answer. Surprisingly, the prophet rejects that notion and claims that God is doing it to Israel, using Assyria as an instrument of punishment for Israel’s sin. So, “sin against the living God” answers “what did we do wrong?” and “God” answers the “who did this to us?” question. Interesting that there is little actual agency assigned to Assyria.
A cynical read of this could be that denying the actual power, authority, and agency of the enemy who is crushing you is an interesting coping mechanism. But another read could be that the “who did this to us?” is a byproduct of “what did we do wrong?” and that real agency, causation, and justice comes from outside the whims of warring groups. Please keep in mind that Lamentations does condemn the unjust actions of people and nations. The fact that God is using Assyria does not mean that Assyria isn’t responsible for their actions. The point here is that the prophet does not immediately jump to condemning another nation. He is considering the plank in his own eye first.
Sure, we often tell ourselves stories that help us cope, but Israel had a history that Jeremiah could use in this circumstance to find hope. Sure, he felt that the destruction of his nation was due to the sins of the people. Sure, he felt that the Assyrians were ruthless, but he was simultaneously more worried about what God thought, and more hopeful because of what he knew about God.
Right in the middle of line after line of “my eyes overflow with tears” he writes, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.” He then goes on to reflect on the Lord’s great love, compassion, mercy, and faithfulness. The application of this reality is that after repentance, “therefore I will wait for him.”
Prophets help us remember who is really in control of the world. That can be both a sobering reminder of the fact that “The Lord is righteous, yet I rebelled against his command,” and a foundation for hope since, “men are not cast off by the Lord forever.”
This may not be universal medicine, and I’m not promoting victim-blaming, but I think there is a real challenge here for believers. When we find ourselves wanting to blame some “other” group for our collective and individual woes, we may need a gentle reminder about the big “Who” who is actually running the world. We need to make sure we are in right relationship with the Lord before we lose sleep concerning the little chaos-causing “whos” in the world around us. It turns out that the Lord knows how to deal with us all. Let’s repent of our part and wait on the Lord to do his.