Grief and Pain in the Plan of God: Christian Assurance and the Message of Lamentations

by Walter C. Kaiser Jr.

Publisher:

Christian Focus

, 2004

Most of us will have faced that most delicate situation of meeting a person who is suffering. We tend to go down one of two different avenues—one is to offer well-intentioned advice: often in the form of well-worn cliches that the person will have heard several times before. The other is not to say anything at all: risking the danger of leaving the person under the impression that God has no idea what is going on and is unable to help.

How are we to understand suffering and its place in our lives? Should we try and rationalize it away, trying to come up with a solution that sits as comfortably as possible? Surely we should look to Scripture first? This is what Walter Kaiser does here. Looking at the Old Testament book of Lamentations, Kaiser does not offer any easy solutions, but rather shows us how a sovereign and loving God can work through even the most painful moments.

Contents

Top Highlights

“Thus we are taught to pour out our complaint, sorrow, and anguish to the God in whose presence we not only live but also suffer.” (Page 47)

“Our generation’s neglect of this volume has meant that our pastoral work, our caring ministry for believers, and our own ability to find direction in the midst of calamity, pain, and suffering have been seriously truncated and rendered partially or totally ineffective.” (Page 8)

“So God’s anger is not despotic, unreasonable, or whimsical; it is related to violations of the covenant He made with His people and therefore, in a way, it is a sign that He has not abandoned either His people or His plan.” (Page 32)

“Rather, the purpose was to make sure that the grounds of the grief and suffering were worked through completely. No facet should be left out; every detail of the human tragedy must be itemized and expressed completely.” (Page 14)

“On the contrary God’s anger is never explosive, unreasonable or unexplainable. It is rather His firm expression of real displeasure with our wickedness and sin.” (Page 62)

Product Details

• Title: Grief and Pain in the Plan of God: Christian Assurance and the Message of Lamentations
• Author: Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
• Publisher: Christian Focus
• Print Publication Date: 2004
• Logos Release Date: 2010
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Bible. O.T. Lamentations › Criticism, interpretation, etc; Grief and pain
• Resource ID: LLS:GRIEFPAINPLAN
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-02-12T07:20:04Z

About Walter C. Kaiser Jr.

Walter C. Kaiser (1933–) is an evangelical Old Testament scholar, writer, speaker, and educator. He earned degrees from Wheaton College and Brandeis University.

Kaiser taught Bible and archaeology at Wheaton College and taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in several capacities. He currently serves as the Colman M. Mockler Distinguished Professor of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 2006 retired as their President.

Kaiser has contributed to numerous publications like Journal for the Study of Old Testament and Westminster Theological Journal. He has also written over 30 books including Toward an Exegetical Theology and A History of Israel: From the Bronze Age through the Jewish Wars.