I have often been drawn to Lamentations 3:22-26.
The Hebrew word for lamentations is eychah (אֵיכָ֣ה) which means, “Alas! How!” It is also the first word in the book. “Alas! How lonely sits the city so once full of people.”
By the time Jeremiah wrote Lamentations, he’d gotten the vision from God about the destruction of the city, warned the populace about it, was arrested, beaten, ostracized — and then witnessed everything he’d warned would happen happening all around him.
Lamentations was written because he lamented in his very heart and soul. It’s a crying out – think clothes torn, sobbing on your face.
Chapter 3 opens: “I am the strong man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. He has driven me and made me walk in darkness and not light.” It goes on to name the bitterness, the hardship, the desolation — even that God had shut out his prayer.
And then, right in the middle of all of that:
This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I hope in Him!” The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. — Lamentations 3:22-26
This I recall to my mind. Jeremiah had to choose to remember. Grief does not naturally lead there. He made himself go back to what he knew was true: the compassions of God don’t run out. They reset each.new.day.
In the last 3 years, I’ve learned recall to my mind to wait for the Lord, to intentionally keep my hope in Him. In overwhelming grief, waiting can be. However, my hope is in God’s faithfulness. In the waiting, I have learned to surrender my fears and anxieties, resting in the promise that God is working on my behalf – just as these words promise.
The Lord is good to those who seek Him, to the soul who seeks His presence. God has compassion for us. When we intentionally seek God’s presence and goodness, we open ourselves to experience His transforming power. By turning our hearts toward Him, we discover His goodness and experience His sustenance. And, it’s new every morning.
