“I will trust in Him while I wait…” Lamentations 3:17-25

Bitterness over loss can rob us of our hope. After an enthusiastic effort, we are left disappointed and our will to continues fades. Maybe you have been there. Jeremiah was as he surveyed what was left of the holy city and her inhabitants.

 “You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity and I said, “My strength and my hope have perished from the Lord.” Remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers and sinks within me.” Lamentations 3:17-20

The word strength in Lamentations 3:18 is defined as a goal, that is, the bright object at a distance travelled towards… (Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionary)

For a period, Jeremiah preached the message GOD had given Him. His goal, provide his listeners with the information needed to turn back to the LORD with the hope of seeing a response. However, the light of reconciliation he hoped for seemed to disappear. Expectation turned to disappointment.  Even so, as he remembered these things, his soul was humbled. Rather than surrendering to these feelings, he shifted gears from a wandering hope to a renewed one.  

 “This I recall to my mind; therefore, I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.” Lamentations 3:21-25

Because of his recollection in V22 and following, he says, “I have hope….”  

After considering the abundant faithfulness of his LORD, Jeremiah vowed to trust, while waiting. Because of the LORD’S mercy, they were not consumed. He remembered the unfailing compassion of his LORD. The LORD’S benevolence was new each morning. Though Jerusalem had been destroyed and its inhabitants carried away, the source of Jeremiah’s inheritance was strongly intact. His “portion” (the LORD) was firm and unbroken; therefore, Jeremiah declares, “I will hope in Him…”  

Despite the circumstances, if we trust the LORD to be our portion, our inheritance will remain eternally unbroken. Great is His faithfulness!!! His mercy and compassion are fresh at the break of every dawn!!! Therefore, I will trust in Him while I wait!!!