“I just can’t stop crying,” a new friend confided in me as her husband was taken back to surgery. When all of life caves in, what then. We may wonder aloud, “Is God there?” and “Does God care?”
Jeremiah wondered. After preaching to the people of Jerusalem for decades, he saw his worst fears come true. The judgment he had warned them about had come in full. Like watching a high-chair fall with a child, Jeremiah was helpless to protect the Israelites from their pain.
In the movie, “O Brother, Where Art Thou,” a character puts Jeremiah’s words to blue-grass music, “I am the man of sorrows.” This book of laments helps us to deal with our own sadness and suffering. Jeremiah does not put on a happy face.
Then, in the middle of his pain, Jeremiah clasps God’s hand and expresses his hope, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.” Why is Jeremiah hopeful? God still loves him. They are captives but not consumed. God’s mercies are new. His compassions never fail. God is still faithful.
This passage, more than any other, has sustained me in difficult times. Take it to heart today. Interrupt your sadness with the real possibility of hope. God is faithful. Each morning his mercies are new. God has you.
