After the Lamentation

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After … is a simple word that packs a whole lot of meaning. According to the Purdue OWL, it is a preposition, a part of speech that works with other parts of speech to “convey a spatial, temporal, or directional meaning.”

And lately, I find myself using this word repeatedly to collectively convey all three of those meanings – to convey a spatial, temporal, and directional boundary, to be more specific.

As a wife and mother, this five-letter preposition (after) divides my life right down the middle – categorizing everything as either before or after the death of our youngest son Chris. I know; it sounds morbid, but it’s the truth. Each new day is a day lived without Chris. As such, the events that take place each day, both major and minor, either remind us of previous times or remind us that these new memories are being forged without our boy.

Thankfully, we now reminisce and laugh about those moments with Chris, including childhood stories of mischief, hunting and fishing adventures, significant ballgames he played or coached, the seasons and holidays he loved, and even something as simple as his favorite foods. Whether or not we give voice to those grief-filled thoughts, each moment is truly a demarcation of our lives with or without our son.

But those Chris-filled thoughts are not the only after thoughts currently swirling around in my head.

As a believer, I am growing increasingly aware of the post-Christian society that is rapidly taking form right before my eyes in the United States of America. I am no prophet, but I would venture to say that spiritually, we are living in a new day and time. In fact, the day after this last election, Wednesday, November 4, 2026, might even mark a new era in American history.

If that sounds overly dramatic, then I offer the blue wave of the recent midterms as food for thought. I also confess that I woke up the day after the election with a heavy heart, and I spent a good bit of the morning in tears, grieving for the broken state of our union. But my tears of grief were not shed simply because of the actual election results, as much as they were shed for our disconnection from each other and from God.

It’s frighteningly obvious to me that the United States of America has many false gods, with self-worship at the top of our theological list. So, my tears marked the fact that we may well be witnessing a historic line being drawn in the proverbial sand. If so, this timeline will historically mark life after national Christianity. And if so, we are literally witnessing the laying of a new American cornerstone – after Jesus was removed as our national cornerstone.

Again, that thought might be too presumptuous or overly dramatic for some. If so, think back to the story of the Old Testament priest Eli and his wicked sons, Hophni and Phineas. This was the same priest who basically reared the prophet Samuel, after his mother gratefully dedicated him to God at a young age.

For those unfamiliar with the story, 1 Samuel 4 details a battle between the Israelites and the Philistines. In this sad account, Eli’s wicked sons decided (on their own) to bring out the Ark of the Covenant in hopes of ending the battle. Of course, that one self-oriented decision did indeed end the battle, but not in favor of the Israelites

Instead, the Ark was captured by the Philistines, and in the process, Eli and both of his sons died. So did an unnamed woman, while giving birth to the son of Phineas, the grandson of Eli the priest. The dying words of this new mother fatefully marked her son and the entire nation of Israel, as she named him Ichabod – in essence, declaring that the glory of God had departed.

She was right!

The glory of God departed after His Ark was carried away by the Philistines, and it did not return for seven months, according to 1 Samuel 6. That’s how long it took the Philistines to realize that there really was only one God, and His presence was too powerful for His enemies to contain or control.

But 1 Samuel 7:20 tells the most startling part of the story, after the Ark’s transfer from the Philistines to the home of Abinadab: “And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjathjearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.”

Stop and look closely at the end of that verse. The Israelites spent twenty years in lamentation – after the loss of the Lord. Ironically, He was right there in their midst in the home of one faithful man of God. But those twenty years of grieving and lamenting were only the beginning of the story of the Ark’s return to its rightful place in Jerusalem.

Missionary, pastor, and author Paul Schlehlein used 1 Samuel 7 to explain how lamentation ushered in true repentance in an online article posted on his ministry website: Between Two Cultures.

The twenty-year number does not designate how long the ark was in Kirjath Jearim but how long it was there until Israel repented. The very next phrase is: “and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD” (7:2). Though Israel had long ignored the words of Samuel, after twenty years, when Samuel once again implored them to “put away their foreign gods” (v. 3), this time they listened. “So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only” (v. 4).

That last phrase is the kicker. After all their lamentation and all their repentance, they finally “served the Lord only.”

Yes, like the story of 1 Samuel 7, many Americans are currently lamenting the loss of God’s presence in our government and its leadership on both sides of that governing aisle. And like our biblical brother Abinadab, God’s presence still resides in the hearts and homes of American believers. But the larger comparison still looms unfulfilled.

When will our lamenting usher in true repentance? How long will it take for America to acknowledge our collective sin of worshipping anyone and anything other than the one true God? Will it take twenty years? Twenty election cycles? Twenty generations?

Will we ever repent – or will we simply continue to lament over things that do not go our way or bring us true peace and fulfillment? Will we even recognize that the presence of God might just have departed our threefold governing body altogether?

More importantly, will our cries of “Ichabod” ever turn into cries of jubilation as His presence is welcomed back to Washington to take His rightful place as the center of our nation?

If so, it will take more than lamentation, my fellow Christians. After our grief, and after the lamenting of our loss, America needs true repentance, both individually and corporately.

So, after writing all this, here’s my final, prayerful thought on repentance: “Let it begin with me, dear Lord.”

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