Lamentations 3:19-27 says,....Bible reading week 20 day 5

Today's verses are Lamentations 3:19-27, which read,

19 -  Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.

20 - Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me.

21 - This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.

22 - The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail.

23 - They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

24 - "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I have hope in Him."

25 - The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.

26 - It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the LORD.

27 - It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth.

On Wednesday we left Jeremiah in a place of despair over the sin of the Israelite nation.  His prayers were going no higher than the ceiling.  He was being made a laughingstock for continuing to follow after the holiness of God.  He was feeling the pain of persecution.  He was starting to voice his doubt about God fulfilling what God said He would fulfill.  He was at his wit's end to going forward for God.  He was ready to throw in the towel on the mission that God had given to him.  These people were "too" bad and there was no hope for them.  Maybe Jeremiah would like to be like Jonah and find a ship in Joppa sailing for Tarshish rather than go on to Nineveh.

So what does Jeremiah do?  Jeremiah starts by remembering where God has brought him from.  He was in affliction and wandering and experiencing bitterness.  He remembers and it drives him to his knees to bow down again before the God who brought him out of those things.

Jeremiah's mind also recalls all these things about his God.  God's lovingkindnesses never cease.  God's compassions never fail.  God's faithfulness is new every morning.  God's portions fill our souls.  Therefore, because God is all of this, I can have hope to continue on with Him.  Did you hear some of the Christian songs that we sing in this beautiful passage in this little book called Lamentations.  "Great is Thy faithfulness, Oh God my Father" is one of them.  

Jeremiah remembers and then he recalls and now Jeremiah rests.  He waits on the Lord.  God has offered a salvation that is to come to pass and so Jeremiah rests that it will come pass because it is God who has all these attributes who will see it through.  The sin of man will not stop the will of God.  We, as a nation, can get farther and farther from following after God but that is not the determining factor of God's will to be accomplished as it is written in His Word.  

Jeremiah remembers, recalls, rests, and then recommits.  He goes back to the commission that God gave him in Jeremiah 1:6 through 10 and recommissions himself to it.  It says,

But I protested, "Oh no, Lord GOD!  Look, I don't know how to speak since I am only a youth."  Then the LORD said to me:  Do not say, "I am only a youth," for you will go to everyone I send you to and speak whatever I tell you.  Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to rescue you.  This is the LORD's declaration.  Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and told me:  I have now filled your mouth with My words.  See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and demolish, to build and plant.

From the get go Jeremiah is told by God what to do and what to continue to do and Jeremiah recommits to the commission from God.  Jeremiah gives us a pattern this morning to follow when we are in the storm of sin of a world or country that is disregarding God's Word and we are feeling the consequences of it.  We are to remember Who rescued us.  We are to recall God's forever attributes.  We are to rest in His forever salvation plan.  We are to recommit on bended knee to the One we belong to.  We will end it there this morning and see what else Jeremiah has to say on Monday.  Let us pray.

"Lord, how discouraged we can get and how our downcast state can lead us to despair of continuing to follow Your lead but may be remember and may we recall and may we rest and may we recommit to You who doesn't change.  Who has an ultimate plan that is full of love and truth.  May our eyes lift from being focused on the dirt of this earth and gaze upon the glory of You.  Amen."

Pastor Adam


A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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