GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LAMENTATIONS 3:25-27
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25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.
26 It is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man
that he has lifted the yoke since his youth.
Under the first cross, the cross of the exiles in Babylon, the prophet is content to rely on the Lord his God and trusts in him above all things. As Paul said, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). And even when God proclaims the law to his people, there is gospel and the promise of forgiveness for those who repent. When Adam sinned, God did not come right away with a sword or a spear, but a question: “Where are you?” Adam was hiding, and the Lord knew it, and if Adam had not sinned his reason would not have been ruined and crippled and he would have understood that the real question was not, “Where are you?” but “Why are you hiding?” God was giving his creature the opportunity to repent. Under the first cross, the prophet realized that the question was not, “Why has God done this to us?” but “What have we done?” Having admitted his sin, and trusting in the Lord, he had repented. Now, whether the road back to Jerusalem took the remainder of the seventy years or not, he knew that he had only to wait for the Lord, and to seek, seek, seek the Lord in everything he did.
The prophet followed this with the beautiful realization, “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Why? Because anything else would be mistrust, and that’s just another word for unbelief. The temptation is always to get God to do what the sinner wants, not to be patient for God to whatever it is he plans to do. What does the parent want the children to do while they wait in line to check out and pay for their groceries? Does the father want his children to get impatient and run all over the store, and maybe even run outside, so that he has to go chasing after them and of course lose his place in line? No, he wants them to be patient. They don’t have to be silent. They can talk to him, or to one another. They can ask him questions, or tell him a silly joke. That’s what our heavenly Father wants us to do while we wait patiently for him. And it’s wonderful to have learned that from childhood, “since his youth.”
Under the second cross, the Great Cross of our Savior Jesus, we turn again to look upon our Lord rather than grieve as if we hang beside him, for here is the gospel and the result of the passion of our Savior: “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.” This is not the thought of the women and the disciple he loved who were there at his feet, held back a little way by the threats of the Romans spears and the even stares of the Roman guards. No, this is the thought and the prayer of thanksgiving of the Christian on Good Friday, remembering the cross and loving the Lord who did these things, suffered these things, for the eternal good of our souls. It is good for a man or a woman to have lifted up this yoke, this memory of our Savior, since their youth.
What greater act of worship is there than to ponder the crucifixion? What greater gift do we give to our children than to bring them to the cross along with us, again and again, from infancy, so that they hear the account, the true text of the Gospels, listen to and sing the hymns, and pray about our loving Lord who bled and died for us? It is in singing the hymns of Lent that I can still hear the voice of my mother (gone now to heaven more than forty years) the clearest, since we sang together, as a family, in four-part harmony, without ever talking about it or planning it. And if I get choked up and can’t finish a line or a verse now and then, it is with a beautiful combination of loving memory and Christian devotion to Jesus. That memory is just one of the countless ways that the Lord has been good to one who waits for him; to the soul who seeks him.
The word “seeks” here is not energetic or intensified in any way. It is the commonest of the Hebrew verb stems, the qal (rhymes with “doll”). Here the regular meaning of the verb just means to consult the Lord by listening to his word, praying to the Lord regularly, worshiping and setting aside time week by week for worship. A fortunate man like me can steep himself like a teabag in the word of God every day, but most people have little children to take care of, a job to do, animals to feed, cows or goats to milk, and errands to run. They would like to read another Psalm, but there is laundry to fold. So setting aside a little time on the weekend, perhaps Sunday morning, is a godly and God-pleasing thing to do.
This brings us to the third cross, the cross of the Christian who wants to follow Christ, and who bears up under stresses from the often hateful world, from the always hateful devil, and from the cruelly hateful sinful human nature. The Christian who follows Christ must even fight his own self, the sinful nature, as he carries his cross. In fact, our sinful nature often is a cross in itself. The Christian finds himself asking: “How do I struggle and fight against God’s will with my ideas, my words, and even with my thoughts? How could I?”
The word of God teaches us to wait quietly for the Lord. Be patient. Be watchful. Listen to his forgiveness when he asks you to watch and pray and you fall asleep instead. But then ask for his help to stay alert for a little while, a moment of meditation instead of a moment spent looking somewhere else– at a screen, or a pretty face, or some absent-minded thoughts about the day ahead, or the chaotic over-thinking of the day gone by. Listen to the word of God being read or sung or preached in the moment, and listen to what your Creator, your Savior, your Comforter, is communicating to you. It is truly good to learn this in one’s younger days, but for those who did not become Christians as children, or did not form any Christian habits of regular worship or prayer or Bible study in their younger days, there is still rescue and hope. The salvation of the Lord is still offered and given to you. Take the wafer, and perhaps before you put it on your tongue the next time, look at the cross or the symbol of the Lamb of God stamped on it. Remember your Savior, who gave his body– this body– for you. Remember “Christ, for me,” as you swallow the wine which is his blood. Do not do these things because you must (there is no law where there is purely and only the gospel), but only to help you remember, if you need. And thank him for it.
The soul that seeks him, sets time aside to worship him, reads his word, prays, gives thanks– this is the soul that hears his holy word. Carry your cross because you love him. Love him because he loved you. Because he loves you.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Listen or watch Bible classes online. https://splnewulm.org/invisible-church/
Archives at St Paul’s Lutheran Church https://splnewulm.org/daily-devotions/ and Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2025
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Lamentations 3:25-27 The soul that seeks