Expressing Faith in Times of Despair

MEMORY SELECTION: “The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.” —Lamentations 3:25

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Lamentations 2:17-21; 3:31-33

THE memory selection contains one of the most eloquent expressions of faith ever recorded by a prophet of the Lord. Jeremiah uttered these words after witnessing the complete destruction of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel by the invading armies of the Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar.

The fall of Jerusalem marked the beginning of seventy years of desolation upon Israel. All about was utter destruction. The Temple was desecrated; the king’s palace lay in ruin, as well as the surrounding wall; the homes of the leaders and the wealthy were in rubble. The glory of the throne of David and Solomon was but a bitter memory.

Yet, amid all of this Jeremiah maintained his relationship with the Lord and continued to point the way toward repentance and salvation. “The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.”—3:24-26

Although he was in deep sorrow for the plight of his people and all that had happened to the children of Israel, Jeremiah continued to put his trust in the Lord. He knew that God is the only source of hope, and also that God would bring deliverance and salvation to the Jewish people in his own time and way.

The Book of Lamentations is a complete poem in itself. It has a very interesting poetic structure that combines all the poems into one general plan. As the name implies, the poems contain the sorrowful lamenting of God’s prophet over the calamities that had befallen Israel. They are written by one who speaks with the vividness of a personal witness of the tragedy. “Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.”—2:18

There is no indication of complaint or anxiety against God for permitting the destruction. The prophet, instead, recognizes the just punishment for disobedience, and its awful consequence. “The Lord bath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he bath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he bath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he bath set up the horn of thine adversaries.”—2:17

Jeremiah was not only a poet who witnessed the sorrowful event but he was a prophet of the God of Israel who had seen the calamity coming and had warned and foretold of its inevitability. He recognized God’s hand in the matter as a necessary means to teach the lesson of obedience to his people. Zedekiah had been enthroned with Nebuchadnezzar’s blessing. He was given his position of excellence by the taking of a vow of faithfulness as a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar, who was king of Babylon. Because of self-will he failed to keep the oath and plunged the nation of Israel into direct confrontation with the powerful Babylonian Empire.

The ten tribes had been previously scattered because of unfaithfulness and idolatry. The two-tribe nation that had remained continued in God’s favor, but, in spite of Jeremiah’s warning, they did not believe that God would permit bitter experiences to come upon them. They were to suffer the consequences, as pointed out by Ezekiel, who said (17:18-21), “Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and bath done all these things, he shall not escape. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; As I live, surely mine oath that he bath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head. And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he bath trespassed against me. And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and he shall know that I the Lord have spoken it.”

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