WOE | A Lament

Yesterday, we explored a hard passage in the Gospel of Matthew that’s worth not simply glossing over. Friends, remaining unrepentant comes at a steep price. To be clear, Jesus preached a message of repentance.

Repentance is not merely about feeling sorry for wrongdoing, but it is a heartfelt change that leads to a new direction in life, aligning oneself with God’s will and purpose.

Below is a lament I wrote in response to this passage.

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WOE

(A Lament)

Woe.

Not whispered.
Not polite.
Not wrapped in a worship chorus.

Woe.

To the people who saw God move
and stayed the same.

You watched blind eyes open
and kept your own closed.
You heard truth spoken plainly
and nodded,
yet went home unchanged.

Woe to the cities built on sermons,
to the streets paved with Scripture,
to the rooms thick with God-language
but thin on repentance.

You didn’t reject Him You managed Him.
Scheduled Him.
Learned His tone.
Learned when to clap.

Miracles happened in your own neighborhood
and you called it normal.

If that kind of mercy
had landed in darker places,
ashes would’ve stained the ground,
hearts would’ve torn open,
lives would’ve turned around.

But you were comfortable.
Informed.
Sure of yourself.

You mistook proximity for devotion,
attendance for surrender,
being near the fire
for being on fire.

Woe to the lifted up
who never bent low.
Woe to the exalted
who refused to kneel.

Heaven came close
and you yawned.

You assumed grace meant exemption.
You assumed love meant no reckoning.
You assumed God would always knock
and never walk away.

But hear this…

Judgment isn’t a loud boom of thunder.
It’s silence.
It’s absence.
It’s the light pulling back
after being ignored too long.

Still…
this woe is grief, not glee.
This warning is mercy with a raised voice.
This is God saying,
“Turn.
Please, turn.”

So come down from your heights.
Leave your pedestal.
Drop your resume.
Let your certainty break.

Choose humility.
Choose tears.
Choose today.

Because it will be more bearable
for those who never knew
than for those who knew
and would not change.

Woe…
but not without hope.

If you can still hear this,
it’s not too late.

Until my next post…

Be salty, stay lit.

Rainer Bantau —The Devotional Guy™

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