The book of Lamentations was written during the fall of Jerusalem and exile to Babylon. The people of Israel suffered due to years of thumbing their noses at God. A two year siege led to starvation and ended in massacre. Jeremiah wrote, My groans are many and my heart is faint.

Amazingly, despite the horror, Jeremiah refused to relinquish his faith.

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

In the midst of a life we would all try to avoid, Jeremiah found hope in the love of God. Reading the accounts of this period in the Old Testament, I’m not sure how he did it. His situation, and that of his people, was horrible But somehow, in the darkness of calamity, Jeremiah discovered a ray of light.

At times my groans are many and my heart is faint. So I find hope in Jeremiah’s story. Like the rising of the sun, the Lord’s compassions are indeed fresh every morning. Jeremiah concluded, I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

I can wait as well.

Lamentations 2 & 3 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by eberhard 🖐 grossgasteiger