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Greetings in the Lord!

Today's word comes from the book of Lamentations, chapter 3.  Overall, that book in the Bible is a hard one to relate to unless you've gone through or are going through some pretty traumatic ordeals.  Otherwise, it seems too bleak, too depressing, like a shipwrecked sailor being tossed about on the open seas, with no land or light of day on the horizon--it's utter ruin and devastation.  What's more, the writer even attributes his circumstances to God allowing his enemies to be the one to weigh His judgement against him for wrongdoing.  How awful!  

Yet, in the midst of such a portrait the writer of Lamentations does not forget that God is faithful to the faithful.  He knows clearly that whether in good times or bad, prosperity or poverty, life or death, God is Sovereign and His love is eternal. 

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassion's 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.'"

"The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord...Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him.  Let him bury his face in the dust--there may yet be hope....For no one is cast off by the Lord forever.  Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love.  For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone...Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?  Why should the living complain when punished for their sins?"

"Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.  Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven, and say: 'We have sinned and rebelled and You have not forgiven'...All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us.  We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction.'"

"I called on Your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit...You came near when I called You, and You said, 'Do not fear.'  You, Lord, took up my case; You redeemed my life."  Lamentations 3:22-58. (select verses)

Beloveds, the God you trust in will not forget you.  He will lift your heads, redeem your life, and refresh your spirit.  Our circumstances are not an indication that God has left us; no, He is closer to you in your sufferings than when you lived carefree and spiritually absentminded from day to day.  May this word of encouragement touch your heart with the love of God and strengthen you.

~Be blessed and be a blessing.   

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