The more you know God, the more hope you'll experience.
Lamentations 3:19-24 (NIV)
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD’s great love (ḥěʹ·sěḏ) we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
Canons of Dordt
Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election
2 - God shows His sovereign love in the sending of Jesus Christ.
But this is how God showed his love:
he sent his only begotten Son
into the world,
so that whoever believes in him
should not perish
but have eternal life
Summary
Jeremiah knew first hand of the difficulties he wrote of here in Lamentations 3. As a prophet of the LORD, he often bore the brunt of the people's rebellion against their God. He experienced the taste of bitter gall time and time again. Even when his physical pain subsided for a time, he well remembered his pain. He had every reason for his soul to be downcast (the NET Bible renders verse 20 as I continually think about this, and I am depressed).
But notice what it is that brings Jeremiah relief. It wasn't some sort of luxurious indulgence or even just a little 'me-time'. He simply writes this I call to mind. In other words, Jeremiah knew his theology well. He not only knew of God's existence, but he knew God's character and attributes, and just a simple recollection of this knowledge lifted Jeremiah out of the mental (and sometimes even physical) pits he found himself in so often.
Jeremiah understood that the awful sins that plagued him - those inflicted by others towards God and towards him, and also his own sinful nature - deserved the wrath and condemnation of the one holy God. But Jeremiah also knew of God's ḥěʹ·sěḏ - the covenant love towards man that God had obligated Himself to.
It is this ḥěʹ·sěḏ love that keeps sinners from being consumed. This love is as reliable as the sun coming up each morning. Jeremiah writes that the compassions of our covenant God never fail. Despite all of the hardship Jeremiah faced in his life, he had everything he needed; the LORD was his portion - therefore, I will wait for him.
Dig Deeper
Jeremiah's tremendous confidence was based on his theology, but even though Jeremiah was a Spirit inspired prophet, the theology he had was quite limited. Jeremiah would have given every earthly possession he had to know what you know: to know Christ.
Jeremiah's only relief from his chronic depression was to think about God's ḥěʹ·sěḏ love, but for all that Jeremiah knew about God's faithfulness, he only knew a fraction of God's love.
The Canons today remind us that the primary way that God demonstrated His ḥěʹ·sěḏ love by sending His only begotten Son into the world, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
As the heaviness of the world and another new year set in upon you, be sure to call to mind often your theology. Remember that in Christ, God's compassions never fail; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, whose ḥěʹ·sěḏ love keeps us from being consumed;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for the energy and desire to learn solid theology, so that you can call it to mind and therefore have hope;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Mark 5
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