Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 207 Treasures From The Prophets - 5 To subscribe just send a blank email to: eternity-dbs-subscribe@strategicnetwork.org GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS Lamentations 3:19-36 MKJV (19) Remember my affliction and my wandering, as wormwood and bitterness. (20) My soul vividly remembers and bows down on me. (21) I recall this to my mind; therefore I hope. (22) It is by Jehovah's kindnesses that we are not destroyed, because His mercies never fail. (23) They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. (24) Jehovah is my portion, says my soul; therefore I will hope in Him. (25) Jehovah is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. (26) It is good that one should hope for the salvation of Jehovah, even in silence. (27) It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. (28) He sits alone and keeps silence because He laid it on him. (29) He puts his mouth in the dust, if perhaps there may be hope. (30) He gives his cheek to Him who strikes him; he is filled with reproach. (31) For the Lord will not cast off forever; (32) for though He causes grief, yet He will have pity according to the multitude of His kindnesses. (33) For He does not afflict from His heart, nor does He grieve the sons of men; (34) to crush all the prisoners of the earth under His feet; (35) to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High; (36) to pervert a man in his cause. This, Jehovah does not see. There are times of desolation in every life, times when life seems hopeless, blasted, bitter, destroyed. Times when all you can do is read Job and Lamentations. The hope is that God is good and faithful and because God is good and faithful and is the Omega, the end of all things then life for the Christian must end up on a good and faithful note. It can be no other way. Assume the worst - that you are kidnapped, tortured, burned alive and your ashes cast into the deepest ocean. Is that the end? Of course not! You will rise from the dead! You will be with God! Your life is not over - you have eternal life and though they may burn this mortal body you will receive a spiritual body. Besides God keeps a record of every hair! He can make a perfect back-up copy should He so choose! The Christian is not defeated by tragedy or consumed by the wicked. The Christian lives on and finds perfect goodness in the end because e in Heaven we will be surrounded by goodness and faithfulness. Thus it is never "all over" for the Christian. How can it be "all over" when you have eternal life? Your stocks may have crashed, you house may have burned own, the wife may have left and the dog may have died but its not "all over". Your soul continues with God. At worst it is very sad, maybe even traumatic - but it is never final. Only the Omega has the last word and that is always a word of love and goodness and faithfulness. Thus even in the starvation and rampage and ravaging, amidst cannibalism and hunger and judgment and dislocation and homelessness (the siege of Jerusalem) Jeremiah could write the words: "Great is thy faithfulness!!" As the bodies lay in the streets and the houses burned and mothers ate their children Jeremiah could say "His mercies never fail.." Jeremiah looked beyond the present into the nature of a good God who could not remain angry for long. God is not angry in the end, He is loving in the end! (Even Judgment Day is not the final end - just the end of this age, after Judgment Day God will come to dwell with men in perfect love). Jeremiah knew that the wrath of God would pass and that His love would again be known. "(31) For the Lord will not cast off forever; (32) for though He causes grief, yet He will have pity according to the multitude of His kindnesses. (33) For He does not afflict from His heart, nor does He grieve the sons of men; (34) to crush all the prisoners of the earth under His feet;" God does not cast off His people forever. He finds a way to bring them back and to have mercy. God may chasten us severely but He never annihilates us. Yet the fact that God's last word is always love - does not mean that we will not know intense sorrow, heartache and brokenness for a while or go through times of deep darkness. Yet it is "for a while" may be even years, but it passes and we can wait for it to end. (24) Jehovah is my portion, says my soul; therefore I will hope in Him. (25) Jehovah is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. (26) It is good that one should hope for the salvation of Jehovah, even in silence. (27) It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. (28) He sits alone and keeps silence because He laid it on him. (29) He puts his mouth in the dust, if perhaps there may be hope. (30) He gives his cheek to Him who strikes him; he is filled with reproach. The time of reproach and smiting is not easy to bear - but it must be borne. God is far more interested in our glory and our sanctification than in our comfort and convenience. If we must spend a time in darkness to become a saint - so be it! Such times must be borne "in silence" and in hope and generally alone. With one's mouth in the dust, with deep sorrow and pain, one simply waits for God's salvation - and it does come! It always comes! As I wrote in the first part of this series - God is intensely interested in us and our apparently meaningless wanderings and tears (Ps 56:8) Nothing escapes God's love. Though we may be in bitterness and pain and think god does not care, he still remembers us. (19) Remember my affliction and my wandering, as wormwood and bitterness. (20) My soul vividly remembers and bows down on me. (21) I recall this to my mind; therefore I hope. (22) It is by Jehovah's kindnesses that we are not destroyed, because His mercies never fail. (23) They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. God's mercies do not run out. They have not stopped, and they will be new tomorrow morning. They are grounded in an eternal God, so they cannot fail and they cannot be extinguished. They may seem hidden, but they must triumph, they must come forth and be revealed. God's eternal faithfulness means He is constant and His goodness never ceases or runs out, his mercies never dry up like an "unfaithful" spring; instead they keep flowing, ceaseless, forever and ever. The goodness and love of God is continuous in a never-failing stream. That is why God is called faithful. You might be tempted to say: "God has given up on me, his mercies have ceased, they have stopped forever". Not so! His mercies will be renewed, He cannot hide His love for long, it will break forth - God does not cast off forever! Wait for God and inevitably His faithfulness will shine forth, the mercies will flow, His compassions will break forth and you will be renewed. You see Christians have great hope because God is just! "(35) to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High; (36) to pervert a man in his cause. This, Jehovah does not see." God does not deny someone his or her rights. Now if you are Christ's then you have a right before God, you are "justified" by grace, you have access to Him and His courts. You have a Christ-given right to the love and blessing of God and you will not be denied that right. You have a right to become a son of God, to be called a citizen of heaven and a brother of Jesus. Romans and Ephesians spell out these gospel-given rights to eternal life and blessing. That right to be with God and to know His love means that "all things work together for good" in the end. God will remember that you are in Christ and turn to you and bless you - because He is just and because He respects your rights in the courts of heaven. God is faithful to His character, His people and His covenant blessings - and therefore you have hope! Great is His faithfulness! Blessings, John Edmiston Were you blessed by Eternity Daily Bible Study? To subscribe just send a blank email to: eternity-dbs-subscribe@strategicnetwork.org Visit the Eternity Daily Bible Study Archives - http://www.aibi.ph/eternity/ Study at the Asian Internet Bible Institute- Free online non-formal, in-service, bible and ministry training: http://www.aibi.ph