Pastor’s Corner
Great is Your Faithfulness
Have you ever read much from the Old Testament book of Lamentations? Usually, it is not a book of the Bible we go running to for uplifting reading. After all, it is filled with lamenting the sorrows and torments of life (hence the name, “Lamentations”!) But this could be a book of the Bible we go running to because it is not just a book of griping . . . Actually it is a book of hope.
In Lamentations chapter three, the prophet Jeremiah recognizes many of the hardships he is facing in life.
I am the man who has seen affliction . . .
He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones . . .
He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding . . .
I have become the laughingstock of all peoples,
the object of their taunts all day long . . .
He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes . . .
I have forgotten what happiness is.
That last line is one that is utterly shocking but so entirely true for us at times in life, “I have forgotten what happiness is.” That happens to all of us sometimes, doesn’t it? Lamentations has an uncanny way of voicing the lives we all live at times. But lamentations doesn’t just stop with us sitting in dust, chewing on gravel and being unhappy. Jeremiah has a hope outside of himself, outside of the circumstances in life. His hope is in God. After his long litany of miseries, Jeremiah says this,
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.”
Our hope, our only hope in this life, is not in ourselves. In fact, it doesn’t matter if your life is going well, or poorly. Our hope should never be determined by the circumstances of our lives, good or bad. Our hope is in God, in Jesus Christ who has brought us the greatest of hopes in all of creation. His steadfast love for you never ends. As Jeremiah says, “great is your faithfulness!”
-Pastor Grimenstein
