Lamentations 3:19-26, 1 Peter 1:3-5
Reflect
Currently, I am walking closely with 3 men that are walking through a dark and lonely valley in their life, called prostate cancer. For sure, I know many others that also have this cancer, and they have been spared the gloomiest region of that valley.
The author of Lamentations knows dark struggles in life, what have become known as “the dark night of the soul”. Although there are some nights that never seem to end.
The wise man that said, “God does not love us because we are valuable, we are valuable because God loves us.”, also said, “Sometimes the only way the good Lord can get into some hearts is to break them”.
What’s your dark night of the soul, your time that you find God absent? True, we are immersed in a culture that looks at suffering and pain as indicating that there is something wrong with us. Lamentations is one very long pieced together poem. From one end to the other the author is, yup, lamenting.
Yet, two of the most well-known verses in the whole Bible are 22 and 23. These are the verses when the bard takes a chance and places his hope (vs21,24) in the steadfast love of the Lord.
The love of the Lord was never made clearer than when He came into the world as a baby, delivered a life transforming message and went onward to the cross and died for you, and by doing so declared how valuable you are in His eyes.
What would daring to hope in Jesus look like in your life right now?
Pastor Dan
Pray
- Pray for our Prime Minister and Premier, Mayor Sohi, your MP, your MLA, and any other government officials God brings to your mind.
- Pray for our Worship Ministries Assistant, Daniel Zander.