Hope is not all gone! (Lamentations 3:22-27)

The unfailing love of the Lord never ends!  By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction.  Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day.  I say to myself, "The Lord is my inheritance, therefore, I will hope in him.

The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him.  So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.  And it is good for the young to submit to the yoke of his discipline.

Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord's demands.  Let them lie face down in the dust; then at last there is hope for them.  Let them accept the insults of their enemies.

For the Lord does not abandon anyone forever.  Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion according to the greatness of his unfailing love.  For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.

This was a long passage of Scriptures but I felt it necessary to put it down because we see the truth about God.  One thing strikes me is that for those who have the Lord as their inheritance, we ought to be of all people always full of hope in all circumstances.  We are also humans and sometimes things get the best of us.  We, then look at our surroundings like the author of this book of Lamentation, the prophet Jeremiah  did in the first chapter of this book, in verse 1: 'Jerusalem's streets, once busting with people, are now silent.  Like a widow broken with grief, she is alone in her mourning.  One the queen of nations, she is now a slave.'

Jeremiah was called the 'weeping prophet', he wept for the devastation of Israel by its sins and wickedness.  He wept because of its desolation.  Does this verse not show a picture of what cities are going through with the Coronavirus....Streets also used to be busy with people are now empty. Whole countries who used to be doing well in every way are now...like a widow broken with grief.  How far should it go before we turn back to the Lord and repent and forget our differences?  Forget our differences and instead look to him.  Some have one finger pointing to the other and one to God.

It is his mercy that keeps us from total destruction, but for how long?

God is good to those who wait for him.  Have you ever wondered what 'wait' actually means.  In the Hebrew language (One of the language of the Bible) it is closely related to hope and to serve.  When you wait on somebody you serve them.  It means also to rest.  In this case he wants us to wait quietly.  I sometimes sit in waiting rooms at the doctor and I can tell you that a few people can't wait and never mind the quietly part, I also find myself being impatient at times.  We all want to make a whole lot of noise when we wait.  Going through this Coronavirus,  I have not really waited quietly, I must admit.  I heard someone say a bit ago..."When will all this be over?"

I understand it can be tiring and upsetting especially if all this time things are happening in the background of history of the nations.  But we must still wait for the plan to unfold.

Our comfort for those of us who have the Lord as our inheritance is that his "Faithfulness is great"

This was also our theme at our wedding, 32 years ago.  Even though I struggled with a number of issues, I truly have seen God's faithfulness through our lives.  Life has been at time hopeless but through it all I have found hope is always there because God, even though, it feels like at times he has abandoned us has never been too far from us.  It has never last long and usually it's because he wants to discipline us like a shepherd who brings back a sheep into the fold.

Like a Shepherd he wants you back into his fold, you have been alone long enough.  Out there are your enemies, but here is your Friend, Jesus Christ, your savior and Lord.

Have a great day!