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." The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
During
the early years of missionary activity in China, one little boy, professed
faith in Jesus Christ. The father felt he was not old enough, so he
explained to the lad that he might fall back if he made a profession when he
was so young. To his well-meaning, concerned father, the boy gave
this touching reply: "Jesus has promised to carry the
lambs in His arms. I am only a little boy. It will be
easier for Jesus to carry me." The simplicity and
genuineness of the boy's faith made a profound impression on the father, and he
quickly sensed that his son knew what he was talking about. Soon the
youngster made known his faith in Christ and followed the Lord in believer's
baptism. In deed the Lord is faithful and able to do what He undertook in our
lives, even to eternity. We must no fall into doubt or fear. I would like us to
have our faith strengthened in this regard from the book of Lamentations!
The book of Lamentations is made up of five acrostic lament poems, or
dirges, that is, songs of mourning. Each is an expression of grief over the
fall of Jerusalem. They were written by Jeremiah against the backdrop of the Babylonian invasion and
destruction of Jerusalem. Here we see the awful sufferings endured by the
people of that city at the hand of their enemies. The loss of a nation is a great loss and deserves a lament as we have
here, yet the loss of a soul is even a greater loss. Although these are
lamentations, yet the purpose of the book is to produce hope in the God whose
mercy is new every morning and whose faithfulness is so great that it is
extended to an unfaithful people. We know that Jeremiah wrote a lament for
Josiah in 2 Chron. 35:25
Jeremiah,
who was known as the Weeping Prophet is known by his unending sadness and
deep depression. Who is Jeremiah?
1.
He received
an unwanted call to be a prophet (Jer. 1:5-6)
2.
He was
called to preach judgment (Jer. 1:9-10)
3.
He was
forbidden to marry so that he might give himself more fully to this ministry of
proclaiming the impending judgment of God – (Jer. 16:1-13). He was
very familiar with loneliness.
4.
He was a man
of deep sadness and he wept openly about the sins of his people – (Jer.
9:1)
5.
He endured
depression as the result of this message going unheeded for so long. He even
came to the point where he tried to get out of the ministry, (Jer. 20:9).
His pain is understandable, because in a ministry that spanned some 50 years,
there is no record of even one convert (may be Baruch his scribe &
possibly Ebed-Melech)
6.
He suffered
imprisonment by King Zedekiah because the king did not approve of Jeremiah’s
preaching – (Jer. 32:5). Even while the Babylonians are invading
the city in fulfilment of his prophet declarations, Jeremiah in the dungeon – (Jer.
32:2).
7.
After
Jerusalem fell, people killed or taken captive, the prophet did not gloat or
take an “I told you so” attitude. Instead, he grieved with the remnant and
suffered with them – (Lamentations 1-5).
After enduring
a life like this: being rejected, hated, mocked, imprisoned, and ignored. His
city, rather the city of God, Jerusalem was ransacked, desecrated and
destroyed. So He experienced the horrors of war, the brutality of the enemy and
the pangs of hunger, Jeremiah was still able to stand forth amid the rubble of
the city and the bodies of the dead and lift his voice in praise to God for His
great, unfailing, yet unmerited faithfulness to His people. How was this
possible? Despite his trials and his troubles, Jeremiah had a good grasp on the
reality of just who God is!
Jeremiah
knew that whether things went well, or whether everything fell apart, God would
still be God and that God would be eternally faithful to His people, This is
what we are considering in Lamentations. He was able to find hope in a hopeless
situation because he believed in the faithfulness of His great God.
