Lamentations 3 -- Seeing Our Circumstances Through God, And Not The Other Way Around

My commentary said:

“Jeremiah had faithfully proclaimed God’s message for 40 years, and yet the nation had turned a deaf ear.”  Forty years of ministry with what would seem to be no tangible results would cause anyone to face depression!

“But this cry of despair was the turning point in Jeremiah’s lament, for now he focused on the Lord and not on himself, and he said, ‘I have hope.’  He turned from contemplating his misery to remembering God’s mercy.  He still experienced pain and sorrow, but he also called to mind the faithfulness of the Lord, and this gave him hope … Because the Lord loves us, He chastens us, but He doesn’t consume us.  He disciplines, but He doesn’t destroy.  Unbelief causes us to look at God through our circumstances and this creates hopelessness; but faith enables us to look at our circumstances through the reality of God, and this gives us hope.  If the Lord is our portion, then we are strengthened by that which cannot be used up or destroyed.  God is our eternal source of strength, hope, and blessing.  Our circumstances change, and so do our feelings about them, but God is always good, loving, merciful, and kind, and He never changes.”

“The secret to victory in tough times is simply to submit to the Lord and accept the fact that ‘the Lord had laid it on him’ … We must bow before the Lord – even putting our faces in the dust – and submit to Him without complaining, knowing that in His time, He will see us through … Jeremiah laid hold of some wonderful assurances:

                The Lord doesn’t cast off His people and forget them.

                In the midst of pain, we know He loves us.

                God doesn’t enjoy chastening His own, and He feels our pain.

                God sees the way people treat us.

                God is on the throne and in control of all events.

                If He chastens us for our sins, we shouldn’t complain, for even His chastening is evidence of His love.”

Father, thanks for changing my perspective on the last two years.  I’ve not forgotten that I trust You.  I just needed reminding not to look at You through my circumstances, but instead to look at my circumstances through the reality of You.               

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford