Read Lamentations 5:1-22 in your personal Bible or at the link provided.
Review
1. Who did Jeremiah cry out to?
2. What were the Israelites still experiencing?
3. What emotions did Jeremiah express?
Reflect
Jeremiah concludes Lamentations not with restored happiness but with more sorrow and confusion. Even though he reminded himself of God’s love and faithfulness, it didn’t make the suffering end right away. Yesterday’s reading said the exile would soon be over, but it lasted 70 years. Many Israelites never went back to Jerusalem.
For some of us, it can feel like we’ll never return to the life we knew before the diagnosis, the loss, the suffering we went through. Like Jeremiah, we can praise God as our eternal rescuer and still mourn our current pain at the same time. This is what it’s like to live as a citizen of heaven while still on earth. We know that Jesus has rescued us from our sins, and we have hope that He’ll come again to make every wrong right. But in between, God doesn’t promise to spare us from hardship.
Instead, God promises to be with you. He promises to fight for you. He will comfort you, give you rest in Him, and show you His love for you. You are His masterpiece, and He has good plans for you.
Respond
While living in between Jesus’ first and second coming, how have you experienced hope and hardship at the same time? What have you learned about God through this week’s reading, and who can you share it with? Spend some time in prayer thanking God for His promises. Ask Him to show you more of His character as you live with both hope and hardship.
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide or self-harm and needs immediate assistance, please call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline - a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the United States.