Creator, Father, King #144

The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease.

WHAT KIND OF MUSIC do you like? Songs that are tearjerkers, requiems, and funeral marches?

No, probably not.

Most of us enjoy upbeat music that isn’t about disheartening topics. Perhaps that’s why Lamentations is often an overlooked book of the Bible. This is unfortunate because it’s a fascinating, spiritually rich collection of poetic dirges about the plight of Jerusalem and the Jews after the Babylonians destroyed the city in 586 BC. It’s filled with wonderful theology, real-life anguish, and heartfelt cries to God.

In many ways, the horrors of ancient siege warfare are incomprehensible to us. Deprivation, starvation, and panic were everywhere. Shockingly, some mothers even resorted to cannibalizing their children (Lamentations 2:20; 4:10).

Once the Babylonians broke through the city walls, the destruction was overwhelming. They reduced the city to rubble and littered Jerusalem’s streets with dead bodies (2:21). Survivors were either exiled or left to somehow cobble together a new life among the ruins. They would never be the same.

And yet one survivor—the author of Lamentations—found hope:

The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”

What beautiful words!

What’s It Mean?

Those words were written to Jews of the sixth century BC who had suffered catastrophic loss. But God’s Word is just as relevant today, even though time and circumstances change. In fact, take a few moments now to reread that passage of Scripture as if you had written it.

Do you see how powerful and pertinent Lamentations 3:19-24 is today?

Are you currently suffering through an awful time or a trial that feels bitter beyond words? Always remember that “the faithful love of the LORD never ends”!

Maybe, like Israel, the challenges you’re facing are self-inflicted because of sinful choices you’ve made. Or perhaps your hardship is simply the perplexing result of living in a fallen world.

Whatever the case, remember this: what was true for ancient Israel is true for you: reasons to lament may come, but we can dare to hope in the God whose “mercies never cease”!

Now What?

It’s okay to lament to God (Lamentations 2:19; 3:55). Cry out to him for help.

Did You Know?

Lamentations was anonymously authored, probably sometime in the sixth century BC.