Will Never Leave You

 

 

Lamentations 3:22-23, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

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The expression of God’s faithfulness found in this verse is familiar to many of us. It’s the kind of text that is routinely put on mirrors or on nice pictures with the sea and sky in the background. We may well, then, be used to seeing this verse in a very comfortable setting. In reality, though, it actually comes from quite a dark place. The context was a heart-rending point in time for the nation of Israel.

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The book of Lamentations is situated in an uncomfortable setting, for it is the reflections of the prophet Jeremiah upon the circumstances of God’s people when Jerusalem was taken by Babylon and they were carried off into exile. Lamentations is exactly what its title suggests: a series of poems that express the people’s sorrow for what has taken place.

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Lamentations 1:1 begins in absolute desolation: “How lonely sits the city that was full of people!” In the face of such catastrophe, it’s common to think that evil has defeated good or that God has given up on sinners. But in the case of Jerusalem’s fall, nothing could have been further from the truth. God was still in charge. It was He who allowed the