Today’s been a crappy day. I woke up in a foul mood, and I went through the day as if my whole existence were mired in a fog, even to the point that it seemed difficult for my eyes to focus on much of anything. Want proof? Just go read the existential angst I posted earlier.

Anyhow, once I came home, I decided not to follow through with the alcohol consumption I’d mused I would before leaving the office—sure, the depressive needs a depressant!—and decided, instead, that a good amount of my foul humor was from a poor night’s rest. A couple hours of a nap later, and I concur. I’m in a much, much better mood now.

So, like, where the heck am I going with this? Here: head into Lamentations with me. Why Lamentations? It was part of today’s Upper Room devotional. Despite being a depressive sort, I’ve never really read Lamentations. [Maybe I should.] I was struck by the verse they used: the NRSV has it as “[The Lord] does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.” The ESV? It has Lam 3:33 as “for [The Lord] does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.”

I smelled context issues, so I dropped back to the whole third chapter of Lamentations. When you pull back to 3:31-33, you get: “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 willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.”

¡Ay caramba! It’s days like these when I remember why I have this compulsive need to check context…

Here’s to a better day tomorrow.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 4th, 2005 at 10:23 pm and is filed under A Quick Check of the Hair and Beard. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.