Paul Cullota
"Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The unfailing love of the lord never ends! By his mercies, we have been kept from complete destruction. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him!'"
The book of Lamentations has been called the prophet Jeremiah's funeral dirge for the fall of the Kingdom of Judah, which he prophesied in the book of Jeremiah. The fall of Jerusalem was an event of extreme anguish. It was the darkest of times for the Jews, marked by the burning of Solomon's Temple, the destruction of Jerusalem's walls and important buildings, the looting of its wealth, and the murder or enslavement of its people. Only a few of the poorest people were allowed to stay behind to care for the vineyards and fields. (Jeremiah 52)
Despair is not a stranger to many of us. I have recently prayed for a father agonizing over the upcoming sentencing of his son, a convicted drug dealer, an uncle finding his nephew, a long-term alcoholic, dead from a heart attack, and my younger sister placed on the liver transplant list. In these circumstances, it is so easy to fall prey to the notion that God has abandoned us. Yet even Jeremiah, in the midst of the worst of times, found hope in God. He even called the Lord his "inheritance." This hope was not misplaced, for indeed, Jewish slaves were eventually released from Babylon and allowed to return home to rebuild (See the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah).
When times are tough and all seems lost, even when we blame ourselves, it is difficult to keep faith like Jeremiah, but we must not abandon hope. As our Brief Statement of Faith so beautifully expresses: "With believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Prayer for the Day: Lord, may we never lose hope in your saving grace. You are our inheritance and we praise your name. Amen.
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