Read Lamentations 3:1-66

“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”  (Lamentations 3:21-23)

If you have not personally been to Jerusalem, you have likely seen pictures.  There are Jewish men and women standing on either side of a divider in their traditional garb, perhaps just inches away from or maybe even with their heads resting against a wall…the Wailing Wall.  Some hold prayer books.  Some place slips of paper with written prayers into any available crack and crevice.  They wail and cry out for God’s intervention on behalf of His people…some of them do so while reading from the book of Lamentations.

Even if you haven’t been to the Wailing Wall, you too have likely cried out to God in a situation of despair.  Jeremiah, the author of the book, had certainly done so.  Because of the sins of the nation of Israel, God had used the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem.  While his fellow countrymen were carted off into exile, Jeremiah remained surrounded by rubble and ruins.  And yet, in the midst of his cries to God, this weeping prophet reminded himself of great truths about the Father.  In spite of the circumstances and ruins surrounding him, he called to mind the very things of which we need to often remind ourselves.

• God’s great love is like a protective boundary around us.  Because of that love, we may be in the words of Paul, “pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”  (2 Cor. 4:8, 9)
• God’s unfailing compassions are available to us every day.  It is as if there is a fresh batch of them every day.  There is no risk of the supply being exhausted.
• God’s great faithfulness is real even when we stumble.  In fact, in our worst moments, when we are faithless, He remains faithful (2 Tim. 2:13).

You probably recognized the words of the verses cited above.  They were the inspiration to a great hymn of old.  More importantly, they are an expression of God’s faithfulness for today.  Pause and remind yourself of His love, compassion, and faithfulness.  They are bigger than your situation.

Steve Kern