Read the full chapter here.
Lamentations 3 is a heavy read, isn’t it? There is suffering (vv.4-6), deep despair (vv.16-18), but there is also hope. Now perhaps this last year has not been filled with the depths of despair that Jeremiah experienced here (vv.1-3) but there will be things that have disappointed you through 2020 and 2021, right?
Maybe it was plans cancelled, maybe it was a future you thought you’d be living now that was taken away from you, maybe it was a job, a move, a relocation, a deployment, a death, maybe it was all of these things. Whatever disappointment and whatever level of despair this last year has brought, let me tell you now that the hope Jeremiah experienced here is available for you too. Jeremiah thinks on his circumstances and is down:
I continually think about this,
and I am depressed.
But this I call to mind;
therefore I have hope:
The LORD’s loyal kindness never ceases;
his compassions never end.
They are fresh every morning;
your faithfulness is abundant!
“My portion is the LORD,” I have said to myself,
so I will put my hope in him.
The LORD is good to those who trust in him,
to the one who seeks him.
It is good to wait patiently
for deliverance from the LORD”.
(Lamentations 3.20-26)
Thinking of his circumstances Jeremiah was depressed. Thinking on the Lord’s loyal kindness he had hope. God is compassionate, his compassions never end. They are fresh every morning, Jeremiah tells us, and His faithfulness is abundant. Rather than trying to dig ourselves out of whatever pit of despair we are in, Jeremiah’s counsel is that we put [our] hope in him because the Lord is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him.
So, no mater what you are working through today, there is hope. There is hope because God is good, God is compassionate, and God loves you. This He has proven (John 3.16). Trust Him and His love for you today, because as Jeremiah wrote,
“The LORD is good to those who trust in him,
to the one who seeks him”.
Listen to these truths sung, here:
Daily, daily I surrender
Grace for today is all that I need
Surprised by a mercy that’s new every morning
Awaken my soul to sing
Oh awaken my soul to sing
I will trust where You lead
I will trust when I can’t see
Morning by morning
Great is Your faithfulness to me
I will trust with all my heart
You are good, You always are
Morning by morning
Great is Your faithfulness to me
Breath by breath overtaken by wonder
One step at a time when I’m overwhelmed
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Awaken my soul to sing
Awaken my soul to sing
All fear be reminded
My future is secure
My Father has spoken
And He keeps His every word
James Travis 