2/07/2019

Lamentations 3:19-24

¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!
²⁰ My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.
²¹ But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

25-33

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
²⁶ It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
²⁷ It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

²⁸ Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;
²⁹ let him put his mouth in the dust—there may yet be hope;
³⁰ let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults.

³¹ For the Lord will not cast off forever,
³² but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion  according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
³³ for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.

Very early as a believer I found these verses, and when the dark times of doubt would hover around me, this and John 17 were dear hiding places for me.  And I have always loved the hymn written with verses 22 and 23.

Lamentations 3 seemed to have been written for me.  The seeming abandonment, the confession, the repentance, and above all the steadfast love of God for men were my hope and my stay in those dark times! I had lost my academic achievements, I had been put out of the church I attended, my friends deserted me, and I was thrust upon God in His Word.  What could I find to console me?  In verses 25-33 there was hope.  What I experienced was not unique.  It was even to be expected.

But then I considered and thought upon verses 34-36.  If my cause was just, God would vindicate me.  I did not have to either wallow in guilt or defend myself.  My part was to allow verses 28-30 to work themselves out and to rest upon verses 31-33.  For it is certain, “Great is thy faithfulness unto me.”