I Will Hope In Him

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Scripture:

Lam. 3:22      ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,
        his mercies never come to an end;
Lam. 3:23     they are new every morning;
        great is your faithfulness.
Lam. 3:24     “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
        “therefore I will hope in him.”

Observation:

The prophet had just been lamenting all the difficulties he had faced when suddenly he changed the tone of his voice.  In the midst of the difficulties we find these words of praise.  Even when things are extremely difficult God's love continues to be poured out on his people.  God is eternal, his nature, his love is eternal and will never, ever cease.  Every morning, in the face of the horrific circumstances God sends out his mercy to his children.  Again, the mercies of God will never come to an end, for he is infinite!  Every day when life throws us another curveball, he will extend to us the mercies necessary to deal with those difficulties.  Why?  Because the LORD is the one in whom we have put our trust and we will never give up hoping in him. 

Application:

There are times in life when things simply do not make sense from a human standpoint.  We want to work everything out, we want to understand all the details and we want to make sure that we have input in all that is going on, but that, unfortunately, is not reality.  There is too much of life that is far beyond our control.  There will always be others who will be making decisions for us that will affect us and our lives and sometimes these will be good decisions and other times they may not feel like such good decisions. 

Our hope is not in people -- our hope is in the LORD.  We can't wait around for people to meet our needs for ultimately they will let us down.  Instead, we need to learn that our hope can only be in the LORD for he loves us with an unceasing love.  Isn't that comforting?  God's love will never end -- and his compassion and mercies for all of us will be there for us each and ever morning.  Even when we wake up wondering why in the world we're being slammed by things around us, we are reminded of the never-ending love and faithfulness of God. 

So, today, I join with hymn writer in praise to my Lord:

“Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!“
  Morning by morning new mercies I see;
 All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
    “Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/19#ixzz2eULpZpuJ

Today, and every day, I am renewed by the hope that I find in my personal walk with the Lord.  May we all live in the beauty of trusting in him -- the one who will today, tomorrow and forever show us his love and mercy.

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for your faithfulness.  Amen.

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