Lamentations 3:19-25

II. HIS CONFESSION OF FAITH Lamentations 3:19-39

Since the poet's outlook was bleak he tries the uplook. He calls upon God to remember his predicament (Lamentations 3:19) because he himself is not able to forget about it (Lamentations 3:20). Mental and physical miseries are not easily forgotten especially when they continue to press in upon an individual. But while the poet could not for a moment forget his sufferings he did not allow himself to be done in by them. By turning his thoughts to God (Lamentations 3:21-25) and by reflecting upon the nature of suffering (Lamentations 3:26-39) the prophet is able to gain a great personal victory.

A. Reflections About God Lamentations 3:19-25

TRANSLATION

(19) Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall. (20) My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. (21) This I will call to mind; therefore, I still have hope. (22)The lovingkindnesses of the LORD are the reason we have not been consumed; for His mercies never fail. (23) They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. (24) My portion is the LORD, says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him. (25) The LORD is good to the soul who waits for Him, to the soul that seeks Him.

COMMENTS

The mention of the name of the Lord in Lamentations 3:18 served to jog the memory of a grief-stricken prophet. His thoughts are turned from self to the Savior. Bert Hall sees in Lamentations 3:21-25 three pillars upon which the prophet reconstructed his faith: the nature, the person and the gifts of God.[441] The poet first brings to mind the boundless mercy and compassion of God. If it were not for His lovingkindness all men would be instantly consumed (Lamentations 3:22). The Hebrew word used here is difficult to render by a single English word. The word is akin to the New Testament word for grace. The plural form of the word indicates the magnitude and repeated manifestations of His lovingkindness. His mercies or compassionssympathetic love especially toward the helpless and sufferingnever fail (Lamentations 3:22). The expressions of God's love and mercy are new every morning. Life, breath, opportunities, food, raimenthow often they are taken for granted; how seldom is thanks offered for them. As the prophet meditates upon the ceaselessness of God's mercy he breaks forth in a triumphant strain: Great is Your faithfulness! (Lamentations 3:23). This verse and the one which preceded it furnished the inspiration for Thomas Chisholm's magnificent hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness. This great affirmation of faith came from the lips of a man who had recently suffered what few others before or since have suffered. It was a time when men had only the post meager provisions. Every morsel of bread, every cup of water, every tattered garment was regarded as an evidence of the mercies of God. Even though the poet had nothing of this world's goods to make him happy and secure, still he was satisfied for the Lord was his portion. The knowledge that he possessed God and God possessed him was the foundation for the hope of the prophet (Lamentations 3:24). To those souls who put their trust in Him God is good (Lamentations 3:25). God never forsakes His own!

[441] Hall, op. cit., p. 355,