LAMENTATIONS
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. — Lamentations 3:22-23
Jerusalem had been under siege for eighteen months. Cut off from any outside provisions, people were dying of starvation and thirst. It got so bad that people killed and ate their children to stay alive (Lamentations 4:10). Amid this devastation, Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations.
It must have been horrible for a godly prophet to watch God’s judgment fall on Jerusalem. Yet Lamentations holds one of the key verses on God’s faithfulness in all the Bible.
Jeremiah remembered God’s faithfulness, and it gave him hope!
As he penned the words about new mercies, all Jeremiah could see with his eyes was devastation. But with the eyes of faith, he could see God’s faithfulness. Often in life, we will see with our physical eyes only that which appears to confound our perception of who God is. Like Jeremiah, we need eyes of faith to see beyond our circumstances.
Life is filled with challenges seen and unseen. The only way we will be able to get through them is if we depend on the faithfulness of God. His constancy becomes a source of courage to all who trust in Him. We need to do what Jeremiah did: remember God’s faithfulness and how He has delivered His people, including us, in the past.
God’s faithfulness is at the core of His revelation in Scripture. In the Old Testament, “faithful” comes from the Hebrew root aman, from which we get our word amen. The root means “to confirm, support,” and amen means “so be it.” Every one of God’s promises is “amen,” confirmed and certain.
In a world where people often break promises as quickly as they are made, there is still One whose word is His bond. He is trustworthy, faithful in all things, and He does not change by time or circumstance.
- Part of God’s character is His faithfulness, and we worship Him for it.
A Verse to Write
Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be restored; renew our days as of old. — Lamentations 5:21
Reflect on This
What do the following verses reveal about God’s faithfulness?
Read Psalm 91:15, and list the three promises God gives to those who call upon Him.
Read Lamentations 1:12–13. Are there matters about which you would like to lament before the Lord? Let the book of Lamentations be your model as you commit your grievances to Almighty God.
Excerpted with permission from The Whole Story: A 52-Week Devotional Journey Through Every Book of the Bible by Dr. David Jeremiah, copyright David P. Jeremiah.
* * *
Your Turn
What does your heart need to lament? What grief drives you to the throne of God? He is ready and waiting to not just listen to you, but to be present with you. Remember His faithfulness! ~ Devotionals Daily