Pastor's Corner
Great is Your Faithfulness
Have you ever read much from the Old Testament book of Lamentations? Usually, it is not a book of the bible we go running to for some uplifting reading. After all, it is filled with lamenting the sorrows and torments of life (hence the name, “Lamentations”!) But this could be a book of the Bible we go running to. And maybe we should run to it at the most difficult times in life. Although the book of Lamentations has a lot of lamenting in it, it is hardly just a book of griping. It is actually a book of hope.
In Lamentations chapter three, the prophet Jeremiah recognizes the hardships he is facing.
I am the man who has seen affliction . . .
He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones . . .
He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding . . .
I have become the laughingstock of all peoples,
the object of their taunts all day long . . .
He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes . . .
I have forgotten what happiness is;
That last line is one that is utterly shocking but so entirely true for us at times, “I have forgotten what happiness is.” That happens to all of us sometimes, doesn’t it? Lamentations has an uncanny way of voicing the lives we all live sometimes. But lamentations doesn’t just stop with us sitting in dust, chewing on gravel and being unhappy. Jeremiah has a hope outside of himself and outside of his circumstances. His hope is in God. After the long litany of miseries in his life, Jeremiah says this,
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.”
Our hope, our only hope in this life, is not in ourselves. In fact, it doesn’t matter if your life is going well, or poorly. Our hope should never be determined by the circumstances of our lives, good or bad. Our hope is in God, in Jesus Christ who has brought us the greatest of hopes in all of creation. His steadfast love for you never ends. As Jeremiah says, “great is your faithfulness!”
