GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LAMENTATIONS 3:21-24
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21 Yet I keep this in mind and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD’s mercy we are not consumed.
His compassions do not fail,
23 they are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness.
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will wait for him.”
For the first time, our prophet uses the word “hope,” here it’s the verb yahal in the hifil stem. In this case, that displays the attitude of the verb: “I will (even) demonstrate that I have hope.” The hope that he has in Babylon is on account of the Lord’s mercy. Jeremiah was given a promise by the Lord that the exile of the Jews in Babylon would not go beyond seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10). This gave encouragement to Daniel and others in exile (Daniel 9:2) even though Jeremiah was not with them. It was enough that the scroll of his prophecy reached them. And therefore here, as the poet approached the midpoint of the book, the message of the book turns from lamentation and law to the glorious and comforting gospel.
“We are not consumed.” Flesh may die. Families may be split apart. Lifelong friends may be separated. Towers and walls and nations may fall. But the souls of God’s people will not be condemned or forgotten. And this comfort extended for the exiles into the hope that even in their own lifetime, at least some of them might be able to return to Judah, even to Jerusalem, and take a part in rebuilding what had been destroyed and lay for so many years in ruins.
The Jews who were left behind did not have the strength, the time, the manpower, or the means to move massive piles of rubble and clear up the city in order to rebuild. And there was the added danger of the constant watchfulness of their enemies, which is shown in the Book of Nehemiah. The Horonites and the Ammonites had their eyes on the city of David (Nehemiah 2:10). If the Jews who were there had begun, with their puny numbers and mediocre strength, to clear away the ruins, their enemies might have gotten the idea that they could just descend on them and capture the city in time to throw some new walls together and act as the ancient Jebusites had acted, saying to the people of David, “You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off” (2 Samuel 5:6). So it was better for the remnant to do as little as possible; only what was necessary to bury the dead and to keep out the jackals and the wild dogs (Psalm 79:2-3).
Here we turn our view of the great Second Cross of Christ from his eyes to ours. His suffering is our redemption. We revisit the scene year after year, especially in Lent, that his outstretched arms on the terrible cross means the sacrifice that brought us forgiveness, pardon, and peace. “His compassions do not fail; they are new every morning.” Day upon day we remember his love and compassion, and we are covered by his blood and mercy as long as our baptisms are in our past.
Verse 24 brings our third cross, the cross of the Christian into clear view. The lovely words, “The Lord is my portion, therefore I will wait for him” could be a magnificent Confirmation verse, funeral text, or life motto. It is how David constantly behaved, especially in the years when he was persecuted by Saul, and again by his own sons Absalom and Adonijah. Patient faith is the life of all of us who are suffering servants of the Suffering Servant. While our sufferings do not pay for anything in the life of the world to come, they prepare us for further tests of faith and patience, and they can sometimes, God willing, be used to encourage other Christians to persevere in hard times.
The danger (for in a sinful world, there are always dangers to the left, the right, and even straight ahead) is that we turn one another into a sort of new cult of modern saints. It is always better to keep our eyes focused on Christ than to look to the left or right at others who are carrying their crosses alongside us as we go. But it is also true that we can be encouraged by them. And so I think of the simple faith of my grandfather, the bold and active faith of my uncles, the charging forward and public faith of my father, and the patient and quiet suffering of my mom and my dear wife, and I am led to take up whatever burden is there and strive to serve my dear Jesus every day like them. For his mercies are new every morning.
When Martin Luther was a teenager, a priest named Savonarola tried to make reforms in the church, challenging the pope in much the same way that Jon Huss had done before. Savonarola was burned at the stake for his faith, but not before he blessed the Church with several writings and hymns including “Jesus Refuge of the Weary.” Each verse is filled with faith and the urgent message to persevere for Christ. Here are two:
Jesus, refuge of the weary
Blest Redeemer, whom we love,
Fountain of life’s desert dreary,
Savior from the world above,
Often have your eyes, offended,
Gazed upon the sinner’s fall;
Yet, upon the cross extended,
You endured the pain of all.
Jesus, may our hearts be burning
With more fervent love for you!
May our eyes be ever turning
To behold your cross anew.
Till in glory, parted never
From the blessed Savior’s side,
Graven in our hearts forever
Dwell the cross, the Crucified!
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Lamentations 3:21-24 Jesus, refuge of the weary