[272 words]
Jeremiah is called “the weeping prophet.” He did indeed share the words of God in a very sad and overwhelming time. We can learn from the words of Jeremiah, in Lamentations, about our God and our hope in Him, so that we can have the faith and courage to live faithfully through our times of overwhelming sadness.
Jeremiah writes Lamentations in the real historical context of Jerusalem’s destruction by Nebuchadnezzar. Jerusalem lay in deserted ruins, and her people have gone into the affliction and harsh labor of their exile (Lam 1:3, 10). Moreover, the Lord has rejected His altar and abandoned His sanctuary (Lam 2:7). These experiences were devastating emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Yet, the prophet finds his hope in the Lord and he poetically offers that hope to all of God’s faithful:
“Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood (bitterness) and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion” says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him” (Lam. 3:19-24 ESV).
The Lord is still our portion. He is the thing we have that sustains us, and in His unchanging nature of truthfulness we have a hope that anchors our souls through all the storms of this life (Heb. 6:18-19). Let us then, experiences and circumstances notwithstanding, hold on to this hope and let our souls rejoice in Him!
Jay Don Poindexter
Merkel church of Christ
Merkel, TX