The book of Lamentation was written during a very rough time in Israel’s history. The once-bustling city found itself nearly deserted. Enemies had destroyed everything including the temple. Taking all that had value back with them. Many people were dying in the streets from disease and starvation. Others had already been killed by opposing forces. It would seem as if there was no way for hope to still remain among the crushed people.
Lamentations 1:1 (ESV)
1 How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like a widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces
has become a slave.
Lamentations 1:10 (ESV)
10 The enemy has stretched out his hands
over all her precious things;
for she has seen the nations
enter her sanctuary,
those whom you forbade
to enter your congregation.
Lamentations 2:12 (ESV)
12 They cry to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
as they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosom.
Lamentations 2:21 (ESV)
21 In the dust of the streets
lie the young and the old;
my young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
you have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering without pity.
But that was not the case for the writer of Lamentations because he could not help but think of the greatness of God. Remembering all that He had done for His people in the past. Even after writing about his very own sorrows he still expresses the hope he has in the Lord.
Lamentations 3:21–26 (ESV)
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
Christians today can share in the same hope that the writer of Lamentations had thousands of years ago. Our God never changes but always remains the same. All those ways that we see God described above still describe Him today.
God did not forsake the people of Isreal but picked them up out of the dust and restored them as a great nation. Showing that when there is no reason to hope in the eyes of the world there is always a reason for the people of God to hope. Because the Lord is able to do exceedingly and abundantly. He can do things that we cannot even begin to understand or believe are possible.
The Bible is clear that God has the ability to step into any situation. He can heal any disease, calm any storm, right any wrong, and so much more. But if God never fixes one problem we face in this life, we still have a reason to hope. Our faith in Jesus Christ brings us the promise of eternal life in heaven. Where the issues of this world will never plague us again.
John 3:16 (ESV)
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Revelation 21:4 (ESV)
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
No matter what you face in your life do not believe you are without a reason to have hope. No matter how bad things get. Even if everything around you seems to be destroyed. Know that God can build it all back once again and restore everything you thought was lost. Because that is what He does and always has.
But go beyond the simple hope that things in this life will get better. And know that this life is only a small blip on the timeline of eternity. Nothing we can possibly face on earth will ever compare to or outweigh what we will experience in Heaven.
Romans 8:18 (ESV)
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Cultivate the kind of mindset that the prophet Habakkuk had. Chose to have hope and joy in the Lord even when nothing’s going right. When everything is lost and you have nothing left. Because God is the strength of His people and is bigger than any situation.
Habakkuk 3:17–19 (ESV)
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
When we choose to look through the same lens as those lost in the world every situation can seem hopeless. But praise God that He has replaced our old worldly lenses with Godly ones. Lenses that take the form of the Bible and allow us to see through His eyes.
With the lens of scripture, we can see that there is never a hopeless situation. God can always turn anything in a way we never could have imagined. With our greatest reason to hope being hidden from the world and only to be seen through scripture. That Jesus has gone away to prepare a place for all those who believe and He will return for them.
John 14:1–3 (ESV)
14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Allow hope to abound in your life starting today. Don’t be consumed with worry, fear, or doubt but know that Gods is in control. Trust in Him and His inspired word that shows all He is willing to do. The Bible proves to us time and time again that faithful people are never without a reason to have hope.
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