Lamentations 5:20 Meaning and Explanation

'Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?' From the assurance that God remains forever, the prayer turns to an honest, anguished question: why, then, does it feel as though God has forgotten and forsaken them? The very God who endures eternally seems to have turned away for so long. The contrast sharpens the pain.

This is the question of faith in the dark, and Scripture gives it a place. The people do not stop believing God remains forever; that is exactly why his apparent absence is so bewildering. The question is itself a form of prayer, pressing God to act in keeping with his own faithful character. To ask 'wherefore' is not unbelief but a longing for the eternal God to draw near again to those he has not, in truth, forgotten.