Lamentations 3:22-26, “It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.”
Our God is a good and merciful God. Our Scripture passage is astonishing. The children of Israel had rebelled against the Lord for hundreds of years. They hadn't kept the Sabbath day for 490 years!!! That is why God sent them into bondage as slaves into Babylon, one year for every seven years that they refused to observe the Sabbath Day. That amounts to 70 years of captivity (70 times 7 = 490 years). God was merciful, He could have sent them into captivity for 490 years!!!
King Zedekiah refused to obey the Word of God. The Lord sent His prophet, Jeremiah, to warn of coming judgment, but Israel's leaders refused to heed the warnings. So God raised up the nation of Babylon to judge Israel. There were a series of three invasions that took place. The first invasion involved taking the the rich into captivity. Daniel was taken in the first invasion. Then the middleclass were taken into captivity during the second invasion. And then at the final invasion, Jerusalem was completely destroyed. The women were tortured and ravished. Pregnant women were slaughtered. The Babylonian soldiers showed no mercy. The men were tortured and killed. The children who weren't slaughtered were taken into captivity 400 miles away west into Babylon.
The Prophet Jeremiah was spared from destruction. King Nebuchadnezzar had heard about the man of God, Jeremiah, who had told Israel to submit to Babylon per God's command. Unfortunately, Israel's leaders were proud and arrogant, calling Jeremiah a false prophet. They learned the hard way that Jeremiah had been telling THE TRUTH all along. King Zedekiah was forced to watch as Babylonian solders slaughtered all 80 of his sons. Then the solders put out Zedekiah's eyes the Bible says, blinding him for the rest of his life. What a sad true story. Dear friend, it never pays to disobey God's Word!!!
So now Jeremiah sits in the ashes of what's left of the holy city of Jerusalem. The crying prophet weeps for his people and in his sorrow writes the book of Lamentations (in his lament). I am amazed to read what Jeremiah said in out text passage. The weeping prophet boats of his God's mercy and goodness!!! Wow! Dear reader, would you or I have such humility after losing our city, our home, our friends, the only life that we had ever known? ...
Lamentations 3:22-26, “It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.”
God had shown great mercy upon Israel by sparing them from total annihilation. Had God not intervened and put it in King Nebuchadnezzar's heart to take the Jews into captivity, they would have all been murdered. Jeremiah thanked and praised His good God, determined to wait upon the Lord. We can learn a great truth from Lamentations, about praising the Lord during the tough times of life. The Jews brought this evil upon themselves. Perhaps you have made a mess of your life. Well that is exactly what the Jews did here! It doesn't matter, because our great God is faithful, regardless of the reason why we are suffering. OUR GOOD IS MERCIFULL AND GOOD!!! Great is Thy faithfulness!!! ...
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