“The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His
compassions never fail. The are new
every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:21-22
The book of Lamentations is a book of five poems, thought to
have been written by Jeremiah, Israel’s weeping prophet. It is a book of intense mourning.
Jerusalem had fallen. The nation of Israel had fallen into
idolatry and rebellion and so God gave her over to the Babylonians. Jeremiah made it clear that the only reason
she fell was because of the anger of the Lord, not because of the national
strength of Babylon – God caused it. Jeremiah weeps over the destruction of the
city. He mourns because of the sin of
the nation that led to the anger and rejection of Israel by God. God had told
them that this would happen, and that he would do whatever it took, including
being exiled, to bring them to repentance.
Almost exactly in the middle of this sad book, Jeremiah
remembers and reaffirms the love of God. In the center of the destroyed city, Jeremiah
remembers who God is, and he finds hope.
“This I
recalled to my mind, therefore I have hope,” he says. “If He causes grief, then He will have
compassion, according to His lovingkindnesses.”
(3:21, 32)
Jeremiah understood something of the nature of God. God is holy and will not tolerate sin forever,
but God is also love. He
disciplines us for a season, to correct and direct us away from sin. He loves us too much to allow us to continue
in a direction away from Him. In His
compassion, in His faithfulness, He disciplines. Because Jeremiah understood, in the midst of
destruction he could say, “the Lord’s
lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness.”
As we go through our lives, we will be unavoidably confronted
with difficulties. Sometimes God
disciplines us. Sometimes we go through
rough times because of the sin of another.
Sometimes stuff just happens. The
only way through it is to remember the nature of God, and to allow it to give
us hope. In the midst of our weeping, we, like
Jeremiah, can remember God’s compassions, His lovingkindness, and can stand
firm on truth. We can only hold on to what we know; we can only remember what we have
learned.
How well do you know God?
If you are not in His word, studying His nature and getting to know Him
and in fellowship through prayer, when hard times come you will have little or nothing
to stand on. Turn off the TV, the radio, the movie – the noise. Exchange the need to be entertained for a
solid foundation of truth as revealed by the Holy Spirit to the quiet and
receiving heart. Give yourself a reason
for joy in the midst of sorrow, a reason
for joy now.
