these may not realize the dynamic of the words’ setting, as affirmations made in the context of the experience of affliction. Both evil things and good things (that is, trouble and blessing) come from the one God (v. 38). Yet whereas people sometimes picture God as equally balanced between love and justice, Lamentations makes clear that God isn’t balanced in that sense. God’s heart, God’s dominant or major side, is commitment, compassion, and steadfastness. But God has a shadow or minor side, the