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Our Hope in Pain

The year was 586 B.C. and King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had invaded Judah and conquered the city of Jerusalem. The devastation was complete. The city was burned. The Temple, the seat of Jewish social and religious life, was destroyed. Countless thousands of men, women and children were brutally murdered or taken as slaves.  Hope for the future of the people of God, was lost. During this time the prophet Jeremiah ministered to the survivors. In the book of Lamentations, he wrote a lengthy poem of grief to reckon with the purposes of God in his, and the nation’s suffering. Lamentations for the most part is one long expression of grief and loss. It’s a sad read. Listen to Jeremiah’s words in Ch. 3,

17 my soul is bereft of peace;
    I have forgotten what happiness[a] is;
18 so I say, “My endurance has perished;
    so has my hope from the Lord.”

But halfway through the same chapter, the tone brightens and Jeremiah turns his mind to his ultimate hope in the devastation and pain. But this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[b]
    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.”

The idea of “portion” comes out of the O.T. idea of land inheritance. For Israel entering the promised land, their inheritance of the land, their “portion” of it, was to be passed on from generation to generation. It provided a source of security and hope for future stability. Here in our text in Lamentations, Jeremiah is saying that his hope when everything else is taken away, is in the LORD. The LORD is his “portion” in the sense that He is Jeremiah’s ultimate security and hope for stability now, and in the future. His love and faithfulness never cease despite our unfaithfulness and sin. His mercies are new every morning we wake up, despite our circumstances and failures. We will probably never experience the extent of the trauma and loss Jeremiah experienced in the destruction of Jerusalem. But we all have experienced loss to a greater and lesser degree. Many are fearful for the future and wondering, “will the virus come back? Will there be another quarantine? Will our country survive this social upheaval?” If our ultimate security is rooted in political peace or social rest then sooner or later we will be disappointed. Times of upheaval remind us that our ultimate rest and security are only found in making the LORD our portion. How do we do that as the people of God? Jeremiah gives us the answer in the verses that follow our text,

“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.”

To “wait” is to pray. To “seek Him” is to look to His word for hope and