Lamentations 3:19-23, NIV “I remember my afflictions and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I will remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. 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.”
When you have a pressing burden, you don’t forget it, but as a Christian, you commit it to God and pray for His wisdom and healing or solving the situation. For me, these past number of months, I have had this intense pain going on with the source stemming from my back. It is with me intermittently throughout the day and while I try to sleep at night. I have found that being carefree during times of suffering has not been attainable. Yes, you go about your day as best you can in fulfilling your daily tasks, but this predicament is still there behind what I say and do. It makes me wonder how many other people are in similar situations. Yet I have hope due to the LORD’s love, compassion, goodness, and faithfulness to see me through. That is why the prophet Jeremiah, still had hope amid his afflictions in Lamentations 3 and experienced God’s faithfulfulness. It is true that keeping our mind and thoughts fixed on Jesus and what He has done for us is the solution for not being consumed by our afflictions. Holding onto the promise of Romans 8:28 gives one hope.
Jeremiah was not prescribing positive thinking. He said he remembered his afflictions and didn’t pretend or ignore them. He felt hopeless and confused. Sometimes, all we can do is sit in our painful circumstances and rely on God’s Word to give us the strength to endure. It is a time of rebuilding and strengthening our relationship with the Lord. When Jeremiah humbled himself, he revived with hope in the LORD’s faithfulness, goodness, and mercy. Think of it as building upon your credentials through God, giving you brand new compassions you have not experienced before in your walk with Him. Jeremiah stated in verse 32, “Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. Jeremiah battled discouragement and had the blues despite being a spiritual pillar. Hopelessness always leads to depression.
There is hope despite our afflictions. The vital word in today’s scripture is “great love,” – mercies of God. “See where Jeremiah gets his comfort; he seems to say, ‘Bad as my case is, it might have been worse, for I might have been consumed, and I should have been consumed if the Lord’s compassions had failed.” (Spurgeon).
I love Jon Courson’s Application Commentary’s comment on Jeremiah, page 596: “If you never deal with discouragement it is either because you are very dumb or very dead because the more you know about life, the more vulnerable you are to becoming discouraged with life. Observing situations geopolitically or the situations in one’s own life personally can lead to depression and discouragement quite easily. Jeremiah was one who knew about this.” Yes, politics and the ongoing and upcoming election fits right in here as it did in Jeremiah’s time. But Jeremiah uncovers how he got out of depression:
- He reflects on God’s mercy. Lamentations 3:22,23.
- He reflects on the fulfillment and joy he finds in God. Lamentations 3:24, “The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.”
- He reflects on the goodness of God. Lamentations 3:25, “The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.”
God is in control of your life. He is adding value to your life’s credentials of achievement, personal quality, and qualifications through your time of affliction. Don’t be consumed with the problem, whatever it may be, for God’s compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is God’s faithfulness. You woke up this morning. I woke up this morning. That is proof of God’s love, mercy, compassion, and faithfulness He is giving these to us [me] fresh, for today, to fight the blues. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:24 ESV.
Listen to Katie Williams – Waiting [Official Lyric Video].