John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 3:54

"Waters flowed over my head; I said, I am cut off." — Lamentations 3:54 (ASV)

He now adds a third comparison—that he had been overwhelmed, as it were, with a flood of evils. This analogy occurs often in Scripture, especially in the Psalms; for when David wished to express his despair, he said that he was sunk in deep waters (Psalms 69:15, 16). Similarly, in this place the Prophet complains that waters had flowed over his head, so that he thought himself lost.

Though, indeed, this was the saying of a man in a hopeless state, it is still evident from the context that the Prophet was firm in the hope of God’s mercy. But he speaks according to the judgment of the flesh, and we know that the faithful are, as it were, divided. For as they have not put off the flesh, they must necessarily experience adversities, be assailed by fear, and feel anxieties. In short, when death hangs over them, they must in a way be exposed to fear. In the meantime, faith in their hearts prevails, so that they do not succumb to terrors, cares, or anxieties.

Therefore, when the Prophet says that in his own judgment he was lost, he does not mean that his faith was so extinguished that he ceased to pray to God, for in the next verse he shows that he persevered in prayer. How, then, did he say or believe that he was lost?

This was, as I have already said, according to human judgment. And we often see that the faithful complain that they are forsaken, that God is asleep in heaven, or that He has turned away from them. All these things are to be referred to the perception of the flesh. Thus, while the faithful focus on dangers, when death comes, they not only tremble but also fear greatly and faint. In the meantime, as I have said, they struggle by faith against all these temptations.

So, then, this passage is to be understood—that the Prophet believed that he was lost, that is, as far as he could judge by the appearance of things at that time, for no hope then appeared to the Church. But we still see that the Prophet did not indulge himself in this despair, for he immediately adds—