GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LAMENTATIONS 3:32
Click to listen to this devotion.
32 Although he brings grief, he will show compassion–
so great is his mercy.
This verse shows that among at least some of the exiles, there was still faith, or that faith had been rekindled in their hearts. Consider those who were not in Babylon– Jeremiah was one of those. He had faithfully preached that the Jews should not go anywhere else, and particularly not to Egypt. He said clearly, “Do not go to Egypt” (Jeremiah 42:19), and added many threats for those who did not listen. “All of them who do will die by the sword, famine, and plague. None of them will survive or escape from the disaster I am going to bring on them” (Jeremiah 42:17). But then a man named Ishmael son of Nethaniah murdered the governor of Judah, and many others, and after he defected to the Ammonites, some of the men who had been with him panicked and feld to Egypt, taking Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch with them, even after he warned them again not to go. But the prophet kept preaching to the people, and even where they were, in the land where they had been commanded not to go, his message was one of both law and gospel. Even there, there was a promise of forgiveness and rescue. “Do not be afraid, my servant Jacob,” he said, “for I am with you. I will not completely destroy you” (Jeremiah 46:28). Such was the gospel for those carrying the first cross, the cross of the exiles– even those who refused to go to Babylon even after God told them he would look after them there. So great is his mercy.
Under the second cross, the cross of the suffering of Christ, we first see his grief, then we see his compassion (which he must reveal to us), and then we see his mercy, and the greatness of his mercy. These things come before our eyes and into our hearts exactly in the order of the three phrases of this verse.
First: His grief. We already asked in 1:12, “Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any pain like my pain.” His pain and grief were on account of the sin he allowed himself to be punished for: all of the sins of all mankind of all the ages of time. His grief was also on account of those he suffered and died for but who rejected him, for hell is filled with forgiven sinners who do not have to be there, except for their own stubborn unbelief. His pain was also the physical suffering, the torture that he went through, ending with the torture of crucifixion. It is said that crucifixion actually ends with the man drowning in the fluid, the water, in his own lungs, since the positioning of the arms makes it impossible to exhale fully. And just as we see by breathing on a mirror or a pair of glasses (as I have just this moment done), there is water in our lungs. If it can’t get out, it remains until the victim drowns. After Jesus died, a soldier pierced his side with a spear, “bringing a sudden flow of blood and water” (John 19:34).
Second: His revealed compassion. To the Romans, he was nothing at all. He was one more condemned man to kill, in order to impose fear on the local population. A tyrant rules through fear, and sometimes by confusing the populace with constantly changing and unreasonable demands. The freaks of the Roman Empire were good at that. To the chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the elders of the Jews, Jesus was a threat who needed to be done away with. He was constantly proving them wrong, embarrassing them in front of the people, and he was popular. He had to be removed.
We notice in passing that all through the Gospels, in all of the conflicts with Jesus and throughout his passion, only “chief priests” or the high priest himself get mentioned. Jesus tells healed lepers to show themselves to ordinary priests (Mark 1:44), and he sometimes included the regular priests in his parables (Luke 10:31), but the priests who actually served in the temple are not described as opposing him. And after his resurrection “a large number of priests” became Christians (Acts 6:7).
To Jesus’ followers, his death was confusing, tragic, and frightening. They ran for their lives; the women stood by and wept. The man who betrayed him took his own life in a terrible act of grief but also of unbelief. They did not understand, and they even took time to catch on after he rose and proved himself to be alive before their very eyes; even grabbing the finger of a disciple and thrusting it into the nail prints in his hands (John 20:27).
His sacrifice had to be revealed as an act of compassion and atonement– revealed through the preaching of angels and apostles. It must still be revealed in this way even now. The world does not believe. There are some who claim to be Christians who do not believe. The Holy Spirit hands us faith through the word and through the sacraments; without them, we would be unbelievers and doubters, and we would be lost like all the rest. But since the Holy Spirit has struck the match of faith to burn in us, we put our trust in him, and we lift up our private crosses and follow.
Third: His mercy. All of this was done on account of his mercy. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not die, but shall have eternal life” (John 3:16). His mercy means that through his compassion, God is moved to help mankind in our misery. It is by his great mercy that we enter his mansions of heaven (Psalm 5:7). His mercy pursues us like our own shadows, like a hungry dog or cat pursues its master, like my little goldfish Spot jumps and follows me as best he can around his tank at feeding time. God’s mercy pursues us and chases after us all the days of our lives (Psalm 23:6). And his mercy is from eternity to eternity (Psalm 103:17).
The griefs God permits in our lives, and the griefs he inflicts so that we stop sinning and can be called back through repentance by the gospel, are part of his compassion and mercy. He loves us. He wants us to trust in him, to give up our sinning, to look to him for mercy, and to look to him for every good thing.
Give thanks to the Lord for he is good! His mercy endures forever.
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 3:32 Grief, compassion, and mercy