Tuesday November 3, 2009

Lamentations 2:20-3:66; Psalm 102; Proverbs 26:21-22; Lamentations 3:20-26, 31-33

In a book of anguish, these verses in Lamentations serve as the centerpiece: they point the way forward, from sorrow to joy. Israel’s sin had landed them in ruin, just as our sin has landed us in spiritual ruin (even if outwardly, temporarily our lives are grand). Israel had to be led to the confession that in the midst of her misery, it was God who was faithful – which was a 180 degree turn from Jeremiah 44:15-18 in which Israel blamed God for their suffering. It’s a turn we must all make, the turn from pursuing what appears to make us happy to pursing the Living God who makes our joy complete. Today, resolve to make that turn, not just once but through a lifetime of pursuing God (by loving him and obeying him) because he loved you first, enough to rescue you and not ‘cast you off forever’.