Lamentations

Today in Bible Study, the topic of discussion was the fall of Israel, in a time at which the people had been so horribly sinful that our God of Hope said there was no remedy for them. The people were so desperately lost that even God recognized no way for His own chosen people to be saved. That terrifies me that we can fall so far away from Him that He won't take us back.

There have been situations in my life and marriage that I felt there were no remedy, no hope, no chance for revival. Lamentations, the book of the Bible written by Jeremiah, was written about that desolate time in Israel's history. The word lament is defined at dictionary.com as “to feel or express sorrow or regret for”. It's a book written in the depths of despair and pain. So many of my own journals have been lamentations.

My favorite part of Jeremiah's Lamentations is where the author writes in chapter 3, verses 21-23, “...and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

The people of Israel did evil in the eyes of God, generation after generation after generation. They hardly ever got it right. They screwed up to the point that God let them be destroyed except for a few of them. God let those few live so they would remember what happened and could warn future generations. Sounds familiar.

Our generation is blessed to have the generation who grew up during The Great Depression. Those folks have a lot to teach our spoiled and coddled generation. It is up to us, however, to be resilient enough to learn from them instead of making those same avoidable mistakes ourselves. One of my favorite sayings is “Life is too short to make your own mistakes; learn from others' and save yourself some time and heartache.”

I find myself thanking God for the trails of others and the gift of resiliency, that I might learn from the hardships of others and in acknowledging God for them, He will make my paths straight. I thank God for bringing those people into my life, and I thank Him for bringing me to life through them. God is so good!