A Morning's Meditation: Hope After Grief
This life has moments mingled with pain and pleasure; grief and joy; lamentations and praises...mingled in the depths of despair the author of the Book of Lamentations in the Bible "calls to mind" the steadfast love and mercy of God that endures, and from that he draws hope. Lamentations 3:21-29 reads as follows in the new revised standard version:
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
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.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for one to bear
the yoke in youth,
28 to sit alone in silence
when the Lord has imposed it,
29 to put one’s mouth to the dust
(there may yet be hope)."
I was struck by this thought reading through Lamentations. Keep in mind that the entire book is literally about lamenting and then all of a sudden the author draws hope from a remembered promise. It is in this hope; this promise; that we push forward to face the day.
I was just discussing the story of Job with a friend and I will be emailing the link to this post to her. God uses suffering to clarify our thinking about Him, and as we know Him better- even in our suffering- our hope is renewed. Thank you, @wisekricket!
I'm glad that you found my post relevant and hope your friend finds a blessing in it as well :-)
"The Lord is my portion"...it makes me sigh with content!
I'm glad to hear that! Thanks for your comment. :-)
Yeah, the book of Lamentations is rather depressing to me...but it ends on a high note. Hope.
I agree; that is what I found to be true as well. Thanks for the feedback :-)