How do you know if someone has truly repented? Does it involve more than simply feeling sorry? One of the most common misconceptions about biblical repentance is that it is primarily an emotion. We tend to measure the legitimacy of repentance by how badly the person feels about themselves. Lamentations offers a different view. The mark of genuine repentance is more a matter of understanding than emotion.

Verse 40 describes the nature of true repentance: “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.” Repentance begins when we carefully consider our attitudes and actions, agree with God’s assessment, and then turn to the Lord. What is more, the engine that drives true repentance is hope. The nature of this hope is expressed in verses 31–32. It is the conviction that “no one is cast off by the Lord forever” if they come to Him in true repentance. This assurance springs from God’s own compassion, an “unfailing love” that cannot be exhausted.

God’s unfailing love provides the theological framework for understanding the afflictions and sorrows that will continue to be the subject of this book. Although there is a divine hand behind them (vv. 37–39), God takes no pleasure in the injustices inflicted by the agents who enact His discipline or from the suffering experienced by His people (vv. 33–36). Repentance is not stoic resignation that dispassionately accepts suffering. Nor is it necessarily a kind of spiritual depression that fills us with self- loathing. Repentance is a biblically informed view of ourselves that has been enlightened by God’s goodness and holiness. We may be grieved by what we learn, but the ultimate goal is to compel us to lift our gaze to God’s mercy.

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