“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope…” Lamentations 3:21
Hope. Some consider it a mirage of what we desperately desire, nebulous in aspect, elusive in nature, but useful nonetheless to prevent the crash which inevitably comes from despair.
But in Romans 5:4-5, the Apostle Paul assures us that hope is forged from character, which itself is shaped by perseverance, and does not disappoint.
In 1 Corinthians 13:13, he asserts emphatically that all service, all sacrifice, all approbation must give way to three enduring things, of which hope is one, even as Hebrews 11:1 makes hope pivotal to the exercise of faith, without which no one can please God.
Why do we need hope, especially as – Romans 8:25a puts it so well – it sets our sights on what we do not see?
There is no denying that setting one’s sights on better circumstances yet unseen, fuels the desire to keep going, to hold on even when circumstances are dire, or the horizon looks bleak. On the other hand, hopelessness may be the seed of a self-destructive existence. The documented observation by Psychiatrist and holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl, in his celebrated book, Man’s Search for Meaning, was that the absence of hope in prisoners at a concentration camp led to their rapid decline, both physically and psychologically.
How can we trust in hope, with the assurance of the reality of the object of such hope?
While hope plays a vital role in providing meaning in life, hope which is anchored on nothing solid, firm, certain, is mere wishful thinking which provides false comfort and delays the inescapable despair which removes meaning from life. Hope must set its sights on an object yet unseen.
For the believer in Jesus Christ, the object of our hope must necessarily be in the fulfilment of what God promises in His word, and our confidence that these promises which we are invited to embrace, are not vain, for they are grounded on the character of God, who made them: His faithfulness.
In 2 Corinthians 1:20, the assurance is given that every promise God has made, is fulfilled in Jesus Christ; in Christ, it is ‘yea and Amen’.
God’s faithfulness to bring about our good, in fulfilment of His promise of care and wellbeing, is tied to His twin attributes of hesed, and rachamim: steadfast, loyal love, and tender mercies/compassion. There is no better single word that sums up these awe-inspiring attributes of God: kindness.
Today, I smile as I write.
I smile because of my journey that commenced with an untested declaration of God’s kindness, which I withdrew shortly thereafter in bitterness. The journey from that point to conviction, and my eventual tested affirmation, came from a place of understanding: that God’s kindness is beyond our human comprehension in its depth and constancy.
God’s kindness is His commitment to His promises which are aimed at bringing us good, and not evil. It is God’s kindness that produced our salvation which cost God dearly: Himself.
Yet the outworking of His kindness does not always mean that we become loaded with the good things we call blessings, for sometimes His kindness is shown to us when in His omniscience, He goes to battle to prevent and therefore to deny us what we consider to be a blessing. Thus, God’s faithfulness to His goal of ultimate good for us, may sometimes look like a lack of care or concern in the face of our trouble, or even that He may be perceived to have caused the trouble to “teach us a lesson.”
Ultimately, we must believe that even when God appears to be absent or uninvolved in our trouble, He is working out our deliverance to provide for us, good that will endure to His glory and praise. God is good, and what He does is good (Psalm 119: 68).
Today’s foundational scripture was written by the prophet Jeremiah at a time of deep sorrow.
The prophet Jeremiah wept as he walked among the ruins of Jerusalem and recalled the painful events of Judah’s humiliation at the hands of the Babylonians.
As he walked, he recalled the dastardly deeds the foreigners who had no covenant with the true God had done, unchecked, to the people of Judah who were covenant people (albeit breakers of that covenant).
In three long chapters, he mourned for the land that was promised and given by God to His people, and which was once the pride and joy of even their surrounding nations.
That land now lay in ruins, trampled upon, reduced to rubble in many places; the temple of God, desecrated by people who knew not God.
Even as Jeremiah wept in deep anguish, he remembered this all-important truth: that Judah with all its abominations had undergone the just judgment of God, but that even in just wrath, He had shown them mercy by not making an end of them altogether – His steadfast love (hesed) and compassion (rachamim), had ensured that they were not utterly obliterated.
This is what gave him hope that it was not the end; hope that one day, the nation would be restored. He understood that the kindness of God, which was never in short supply, was the reason they had not been annihilated; it was therefore the reason God would not abandon them. That was what grounded Jeremiah’s hope for a future for His people in the face of everything that screamed hopelessness, and an end to all that was good.
Lamentations 3:21-23 is an anchor for every believer who is in trouble, or in a situation which appears to be an end to everything good.
Jesus Christ our Lord is our Saviour. He has redeemed us, restoring us to Himself and providing for us, every blessing contained in the eternal life into which He has ushered us. 2 Peter 1:3
He is the Great Shepherd who has promised to lead us beside still waters, refresh our weary souls, walk with us through dark valleys, and bring us out to a place of triumph even in the presence of what was aimed at destroying us. Psalm 23
He is the light in our darkness, and He promises us that we shall see His goodness in the land of the living. Psalm 27:1,13
He is our refuge from life’s storms, our place of safety. Proverbs 18:10
He is ready with the help we need at the time we need it. Psalm 46:1
He is both our strength and our shield, protecting us from what is aimed at destabilizing us or even destroying us. Psalm 28:7
He is who keeps us from living in shame, for He lifts up our heads. Psalm 3:3; Psalm 34:5
All these are promises God has freely given to us, and which He is able to fulfil, regardless of our present circumstances, which may be dire.
God CAN deliver on His promises, because He is the Almighty God, the ultimate power in the universe. He WILL fulfill them because of His hesed and rachamim.
That is why, like Jeremiah – who looked beyond the destruction all around him – we too can have hope even in adversity.
The hope of a believer, is that quality of life that looks forward, not to an ever-disappearing mirage that offers salve in the moment, but to the fulfilment of the promise of wellbeing, made by the One whose heart is kind, and merciful, and who is committed to our highest good.
So, no matter where you find yourself today, especially if you find yourself in the ‘middle of nowhere’, or in abject circumstances, you can say with the prophet Jeremiah:
“This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 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.” Lamentations 3:21- 23 (KJV).
These are not platitudes; they are the bridge from your present circumstances to a future of God’s fulfilled promises!
You can trust in God’s kindness. Lift up your head in worship, and focus on the good that is sure to come to you.
God’s hesed and rachamim – mercy and compassion, are never in short supply: “they are new every morning”. Upon these you can hang your hope for ‘the expected end’.
