Laments or Complaints?

Every morning I tear off the current page from the "Word Origin" calender, which my daughter-in-law gifted me with this past Christmas.
She knows that I love learning the origin of sayings and was hopefully that this would fit the bill.
It occasionally does, but often gets no response from me.
Unlike this morning's offering.
Just not as the giver and probably the writer intended.

The word was jeremiad.
Here is how they explained the word:

"A tirade of bitter complaint, a "jeremiad takes its name from the Biblical prophet Jeremiah, who was given to berating his fellow Hebrews for violations of the law.  When he was not chiding them or the king, he complained vigorously about not being paid attention to, which we do, unwittingly, every time we use the word "jeremiad"-which, admittedly, in not very often.

There slant on the poor beleaguered  prophet is far from accurate.
Yet, for those without faith in the Living God, it is right on.

Without the understanding of Who our God is and our relationship with Him, we, too, can easily view His warnings and chastisements as berating and a bitter tirade.

Webster's New World Dictionary defines jeremiad as a long lamentation or complaint.
It then defines lamentation as an outward expression of grief.

Now that is more like it!

As I have shared, I am reading through the Book of Jeremiah.
What has moved my heart is how constant is God's love for His people.
He gives them one opportunity after another to turn back to Him so He can bless them anew.
The discipline that He metes out is for His children's good.

In Hebrews Chapter Twelve, verse eleven we read,

"All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."

May we view all that comes into our lives through the eyes of faith and not be hardhearted as those whom Jeremiah addressed, nor those, even today, who view His laments as tirades!