John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 5:20

"Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, [And] forsake us so long time?" — Lamentations 5:20 (ASV)

He seems, indeed, here to expostulate with God; but the faithful, even when they patiently bear their evils and submit to God’s scourges, still intimately share their complaints with Him, and thus unburden themselves. We see that David prayed, undoubtedly by the genuine impulse of the Spirit, and at the same time expostulated,

Why dost thou forget me perpetually? (Psalms 13:1).

And there is no doubt that the Prophet took this complaint from David. Let us, then, understand that though the faithful sometimes take this liberty of expostulating with God, they still do not set aside reverence, modesty, submission, or humility. For when the Prophet thus inquired why God should forever forget His people and forsake them, he undoubtedly relied on his own prophecies, which he knew had proceeded from God, and thus he deferred his hope until the end of the seventy years, for that time had been set beforehand by God.

But it was according to human judgment that he complained, speaking for himself and for the faithful, that the affliction was long; and there is no doubt that he dictated this form of prayer to the faithful, that it might be retained after his death. He, then, formed this prayer, not only according to his own feeling and as guidance for those of his own age, but his purpose was to supply the faithful with a prayer after his own death, so that they might flee to the mercy of God.

So now we perceive how complaints of this kind should be understood, when the prophets asked, “How long?” as though they stimulated God to hasten the time. For when we are pressed down by many evils, we inevitably wish for help to be accelerated, because faith does not wholly strip us of all cares and anxieties.

But when we pray in this way, let us remember that our times are at the will and in the hand of God, and that we should not be overly hasty. So, it is lawful for us on the one hand to ask God to hasten, but on the other hand, we ought to check our impatience and wait until the suitable time comes. The Prophet undoubtedly combined both these things when he said, Why shouldest thou, perpetually forget us and forsake us?

Yet we see that he judged according to the evils then endured; and undoubtedly he believed that God had not forsaken His own people nor forgotten them, as He cannot forget. But, as I have already said, the Prophet mentioned these complaints through human infirmity, not so that people might indulge in their own thoughts, but that they might ascend by degrees to God and overcome all these temptations.