Every Morning
As it is Spring in the Southern Hemisphere, I'm going to be spending some time thinking about how God "makes all things new." We'll be looking at various promises and examples of how God is a God who renews, restores, re-creates and gives new beginnings.====================================
The book of Lamentations was written by Jeremiah in aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. It is a gut-wrenching exploration of pain. It consists of five poems that have been composed with each stanza starting with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
The poem explores the terribly sad circumstances as thoroughly as possible. It is as though Jeremiah needed to document the horror of what had happened. It is in the middle poem, where there are three stanzas for each alphabet letter that we find the bottom line: God's love cannot be defeated by pain.
| 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. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." (Lamentations3:22-24) |
There is no denying the reality of the pain. The thorough "documentation" of this pain in Lamentations means that pain and loss are not downplayed, belittled or handled in a trite way, but Jeremiah is also sure that pain does not have the last say.
God's love is stronger than pain - our problems don't disappear, but we are carried through our loss and sustained in our struggle, we are nurtured in our journey even if we can't see the end of the shadowy valley.
The powerful image he connects to is that of a new morning. Sometimes the new morning comes with a stunning sunrise, sometimes it comes in a fairly bland way, other times we can't even see it behind the mist and the rain - but it always always always comes!
In the midst of our pain and loss, let us wait for the Lord!
