Title: Hope in Suffering / Lamentations 3:19-26
Content Hope in Suffering / Lamentations 3:19-26
Hope in Affliction
Lamentations 3:19-26
Through this pilgrimage to the Holy Land, I received a lot of precious grace from God. Through the meditative Lamentations of Jeremiah, many words were given in the Holy Spirit. In particular, today's text is the word Moses meditated on while watching the rising sun from the foot of Mount Sinai, where he went up to meet God. These words that I meditated on at the scene of the rebellion of the people of Israel who made idols and danced in front of them when the leader did not see them, and the hardships caused by it, were a great comfort and hope. When we live on this earth, we are in a place of suffering because of our faults or for the purpose of refinement. But in the midst of such suffering, we can have hope in God. What must we do to have hope in the midst of suffering?
1. We must believe in God's unchanging mercy. (v.19-23)
“For the love and mercy of the LORD are endless; we are not destroyed.” (v.22)
2. We must wait patiently for God's time of salvation. (v. 24 & 26)
“It is good for a man to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (v.26)
3. We must earnestly seek and seek only the God of salvation. (v.25)
“The LORD is good to those who wait and to those who seek.” (v.25)
It is said that the early church members recite Psalm 73 in the morning and sing the new mercy of God every morning. “Who have I in heaven but you? There is no one on earth that I long for but you. My body and mind are feeble, but God is the rock of my heart and an everlasting portion.... It is a blessing to me to draw near to God. I will make the Sovereign LORD my refuge, and I will proclaim all your deeds. (v. 25-28)
I pray that you will always sing to the Lord in the field of hardship and become loved members of our constant love.