May 2 - Lamentations 3:57

You came near

when I called on you;

you said, “Do not fear!”

Lamentations 3:57

Jeremiah is not the happiest book in the Scriptures. It is filled with mostly sad, grieving, and longing prophecies. God is crying out to his children who are wayward and hardened.

Well, if Jeremiah is sad, Lamentations are the even sadder of this same prophet’s wailings. Lament means to cry.

Nobody likes to cry in pain and grief. But there’s a spiritual blessing in tears. Our natural tendency is to try to solve problems by and for ourselves. When we reach “the end of ourselves,” that’s when we finally cry out to God.

• That was the pattern before the Exodus. When Israel finally cried out, God sent a deliverer – Moses.

• That was the pattern again and again in Judges. When Israel finally cried out, God would send a deliverer.

• And here’s the hope in today’s Lamentations. The prophet says …

55 I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit; 56 you heard my plea … 57 You came near when I called on you; you said, "Do not fear!"

God’s invitation is to come to the end of ourselves and enter into the beginning of hope.

And holy hope involves not fearing. Why? Because God is in control (not us).

In Christ’s Love,

a big boy who

needs to cry