Man Of Constant Sorrow

I’m reading Jeremiah and his ‘Lamentations’. Jeremiah certainly wasn’t a bundle of laughs. He wouldn’t have got on ‘Jerusalem’s Got Talent’ as a comedian… or entertainer of any sort.

‘I am the man who has seen affliction,’ Jeremiah says, lamenting national and personal tragedies…

I watch the news – war, refugees, national disasters… Recently I’ve watched friends – despairing at choices their children are making, distressed by the effects of dementia and cancer, bearing their own pain and the pain of loved ones, seeking to control matters that are out of their control…

I identify with Jeremiah – ‘I am the man who has seen affliction’… So could a number of friends.

I first heard ‘Man of constant sorrow’ through Peter, Paul and Mary…

I am a man of constant sorrow
I’ve seen troubles all my day
I’m goin’ back to California
Place where I was partly raised

Like Jeremiah it’s powerful because it’s not theory or theology, about why bad things happen, how to feel or what to do… It’s about suffering from personal first-hand experience… that can lead to wisdom, understanding and empathy…

Friends who’ve been addicts understand addiction’s power and pain; those who’ve been through divorce or bereavement understand grief and family loss; the adult who was abused as a child understands childhood trauma.

And yet… as the man who’s seen affliction, the man of constant sorrow, I may understand truth, gain wisdom, develop empathy… but I also need the inner strength, resilience to survive.

Returning to Jeremiah:

‘I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’

And somehow, through the sorrow and trouble, affliction and bitterness, I return to my faithful, loving God, who brings me reassurance, security, strength and hope.