The Sunday after Christmas, my friend Jeremy was on the schedule to preach at our church here in Quito. He drove back from vacation to give a message based on Lamentations. And I have to tell you I wasn't really impressed. First he left vacation. Second he's preaching on Lamentations. Third it's right after Christmas.
I may have thought something like, "Way to go Jeremy, leave your family in the mountains so you can come back and suck the Christmas spirit right out of the rest of us. Awesome Dude."
But I was wrong. He did a great job reminding us of the context of Lamentations 3:22-24. In the New Living Translation:
22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”
What his message did, is what all good messages do, it drove me back to scripture. Jeremy helped us understand the environment in which those verses were written, but I wanted a little more, so I went back and read what lead up to that statement. Here is a paraphrase of some of the statements the writer makes regarding God.
He led me into darkness. He turned his hand against me. He besieged me with anguish. He has blocked my way. I cannot escape. He has shut out my prayers. He has torn me to pieces. He shot arrows into my heart. He has filled me with bitterness. He has made me chew gravel. Peace has been stripped away.
And then, "I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope as I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends... "
There are two things that I just can't shake about those two verses. "I will never forget... Yet I still dare to hope."
This is not some Pollyanna, all things work together, platitude kind of faith. This is a faith that acknowledges pain. Maybe even a sense of feeling wronged by a God who's ignored him. This is a faith that remembers... yet still dares to hope.
To dare implies risk. Uncertainty. But he will hope anyway. Why? Because of what he also knows to be true. "The faithful love of the Lord never ends."
Somewhere in his dark, lonely, unanswered prayer and gravel chewing moments he knows he has but one hope. And so he clings to it. The faithful unending love he knows God has for him. The same love he has for you and me. No matter how much gravel we may feel like we've been chewing.
It's as bewildering as it is beautiful. Yet... lets dare to hope.
I may have thought something like, "Way to go Jeremy, leave your family in the mountains so you can come back and suck the Christmas spirit right out of the rest of us. Awesome Dude."
But I was wrong. He did a great job reminding us of the context of Lamentations 3:22-24. In the New Living Translation:
22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”
What his message did, is what all good messages do, it drove me back to scripture. Jeremy helped us understand the environment in which those verses were written, but I wanted a little more, so I went back and read what lead up to that statement. Here is a paraphrase of some of the statements the writer makes regarding God.
He led me into darkness. He turned his hand against me. He besieged me with anguish. He has blocked my way. I cannot escape. He has shut out my prayers. He has torn me to pieces. He shot arrows into my heart. He has filled me with bitterness. He has made me chew gravel. Peace has been stripped away.
And then, "I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope as I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends... "
There are two things that I just can't shake about those two verses. "I will never forget... Yet I still dare to hope."
This is not some Pollyanna, all things work together, platitude kind of faith. This is a faith that acknowledges pain. Maybe even a sense of feeling wronged by a God who's ignored him. This is a faith that remembers... yet still dares to hope.
To dare implies risk. Uncertainty. But he will hope anyway. Why? Because of what he also knows to be true. "The faithful love of the Lord never ends."
Somewhere in his dark, lonely, unanswered prayer and gravel chewing moments he knows he has but one hope. And so he clings to it. The faithful unending love he knows God has for him. The same love he has for you and me. No matter how much gravel we may feel like we've been chewing.
It's as bewildering as it is beautiful. Yet... lets dare to hope.
Thanks for sharing this. It is a tremendous reminder to all of us of the importance of clinging to hope for what lies ahead even when we cannot see and knowing we are held in His incredible loving arms. When the engine of our plane began to release smoke while flying over the Pacific Ocean, this is what gave me peace.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement. So glad you guys made it back safely. It had to be scary.
Delete