Great is Thy Faithfulness

Lamentations is not a book filled with many happy things.  Lamentations 3 in particular is a somber, bitter chapter.  Yet in the midst of Lamentations 3, there is a declaration about God that seems not to fit; it is “Great is Your Faithfulness.”    The words of verses 21 through 23 seems contradictory to all that comes before.   What has the Prophet done?  How can he make such a proclamation in the midst of stark and bitter and heart wrenching circumstances?  An answer to this difficulty is found in verse 21:  “This I recall to mind, Therefore I have hope.”

It really is all about thinking, it is all about faith.  Jeremiah, in the midst of his lament, raises his thoughts above the calamitous circumstances, and he lands them solidly upon the God who is Lord over those circumstances, even the most difficult of them. He bolsters his faith with remembrance of the character of God and the faithfulness and power of God to deliver all that He has promised.

The prophet leads us too, to remember the faithfulness of God – even in the midst of circumstances that would tempt us to doubt His faithfulness and goodness.  Jeremiah knew that his assurance was not at all based upon present circumstances – his assurance is in God.

Jeremiah is suffering, the people of God are in the midst of a great trial, and sometimes we too suffer.  What shall we do in the midst of it?  I think first, let us remember the cause of our trouble. Jeremiah teaches us that it is not God who is the author of our troubles; it is sin that deserves credit for those tragic realities.  Let us remember secondly the solution of our trouble.  It is the faithfulness of God.