Lamentations: A Call to Hope
Does anyone else feel the heaviness of grief as the death toll continues to skyrocket overnight? Are you experiencing overwhelming disappointment as more and more events are cancelled - as another day goes by without a cure for this virus? Does anyone feel insulted by the enemy’s tactics to isolate and divide God’s people during this national crisis?
I couldn’t seem to grip my mind about this passage in Lamentations 3 but for the past week, the Holy Spirit has drawn me to meditate on it. I couldn’t figure out what God was screaming at me to take to heart. I also could not wrap by mind that this not only was included as part of the inspired Word of God, but that it was not in reference to the enemy, but instead to God.
“I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light, surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long….he has walled me about so I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy…he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow…I have become the laughingstock of all peoples…my soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me”….
Although I still do not have a full understanding of this passage, I do believe the Holy Spirit has given me a beautiful treasure to hold onto as I continue to dissect His Word. This passage is from the book of Lamentations, as one would expect from the downcast, sorrowful tone it brings. His depression is not because he didn’t love the Lord or because he had sinned as I initially might expect.
Jeremiah, the well known “weeping prophet” penned this truly inspired writing as a result of his circumstances, his brokenness, and his grief over the condition of the nation of Israel. It is intriguing to me that he is one of the rare few Bible heroes without an ill word spoken of, but his faithfulness still pens these words.
In light of this global health crisis, I too am reminded how lost, how unknowingly desperate, and just how depressed this world truly is without Christ. Like Jeremiah, I look at the rubble of this nation and cannot help but be brought to tears over the hopelessness and devastation of each lost soul that denies Christ.
Looking around at my nation and then looking inward at my own life with the heavy, tiresome circumstances I’m personally experiencing, nothing could seem more hopeless. Looking around always causes hopelessness. It measures every problem with my own ability, measures obligations with my own resources, and measures the battle with my own strength. Instead we are called to look up and arise!
Jeremiah assigns responsibility to God for the things he is going through. The enemy’s primary goal is to get you to doubt the goodness of God. We may not know why we are going through this, or when it will end, but we do know the good, great God who will get us through this. From the most depressing book in the bible, from the most depressing chapter of the bible, comes the greatest treasure. The power and clarity of this passage comes as I literally turned the page (in my Bible, verse 21 begins on the very next page). Despite his circumstances, his perspective changes.
“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.” -Lamentations 3:21
God’s goodness is wide enough to accommodate my grief. God is not upset when I am upset. He is not done using me when I am saddened. It is okay, even encouraged, to cast your cares upon Him. He desires our real, raw, vulnerable openness. It is a broken and contrite heart that He intercedes for. I can be honest when I am angry at Him or when I feel hurt by Him. He’s not going to turn me away or stop loving me. Instead, He gives me mercy anew every morning. He gives me hope.
My weakness magnifies His strength; My grief highlights His compassion, and my hopelessness amplifies His unconditional power and love. I can choose what I call to remembrance. You can choose to call to remembrance the steadfast, unending, faithfulness and love the Lord has for you. Biblical hope is not naive optimism or wishful thinking. It is the unflinching confidence in God’s power to accomplish God’s plan in God’s time.
Whatever you are going through, God is using it for an eternal weight of glory, so do not lose heart. As this pandemic unleashes its fury on this broken world, I cannot help but wonder if perhaps this is all part of God’s ultimate plan for the Church to rise up and be the light in the darkness we know we were destined to be. We are to call to mind His love, His mercy, and His faithfulness. We are to have hope in Him every morning.
Call to your mind the goodness of the Lord. Train your mind to think upon His promises. Choose to live in His love. Great is His faithfulness. God is still good. He is still close to you, keep praying, keep seeking, and keep waiting upon Him.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hannah is a twenty-something Tucson native saved by the overwhelming grace of Christ. Her favorite days consist of a great cup of coffee, a good book, and a comfy chair watching the rain pour. She longs to see young women thrive in relationships with Jesus knowing He always has immeasurably more in store for us.