faithfulness

during the one of my courses at sebc, we took time to study the book of lamentations. for some reason (i think maybe God has something to do with it), the things we talked about really have stuck in my mind. as many of you know, a few verses out of this strange book were once written in one of the best hymns of all times. it's a little bit ironic, though, because this is one of the saddest, most depressing books to read in the whole Bible. the people of Israel have seemingly been abandoned by the Lord. they cry out to the Lord over and over in their distress and...nothing. they are feeling the wrath of the Lord is a very powerful way and it's not any fun at all for them...as you might imagine. they feel rejected and lost. but then, right in the middle of the book, we read the words:

i remember my afflictions and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. i well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. yet this i call to mind and therefore i have hope: because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. i say to myself, 'the Lord is my portion; therefore i will wait for Him...

a ray of hope...but then the book goes right back downhill from there...with the last words of the author, "restore us to yourself, o Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure." pretty hopeless ending, i'd say. of course, we know the rest of the story...but they didn't. they were living in a time of hopelessness, despair and aloneless...wondering where in the world the Lord was and why He wasn't helping them.
i could be wrong, but i think we all end up in that place from time to time in life...with the presenting circumstances being a little bit different for each one of us. i have certainly been in that place before.... but nonetheless, i know with my head even when i don't feel it in my heart: "Great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see...all I have needed Thy hand hath provided! Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me!"