Hope

Lamentations 3:22-23

22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

If ever a passage of scripture were to give hope, I feel this would be it. The prophet Jeremiah writes about despair, pain, suffering, sin and wrongdoing. The passage speaks of anguish and depression so deep, it had "walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains."
It speaks of a heartache so real "He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver."
He felt ashamed and mocked and cast away, "I became the laughingstock of all my people;they mock me in song all day long."
I feel there is a guilt, a sense of unforgiveness towards himself, "I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is."

As I was reading this passage, I felt myself identifying so closely with the feelings and thoughts Jeremiah had written. I have been through periods of depression that threatened to choke me out; at times it seemed I couldn't breathe because it hurt so bad. I have been wounded by friends and family, and felt my heart ripped out of my chest. I felt broken, pierced, bleeding inside.
I have been publicly ridiculed by those who called me friend to my face. It was like they slapped me in the face, spewing nastiness from the very mouths they had commended me with. And I myself have been unable to forgive my own wrongs and shortcomings. It has felt like an inescapable blemish upon my report card of life. That I was/am never good enough. Like I will never get ahead.

We all go through periods in life of hopelessness. Of depression. Of ridicule and wretchedness. We have all felt the sting of betrayal and humiliation at some point in life. We have all been through times of loss and bereavement. This is life. This is what being part of mankind brings. No one is exempt. No one can avoid pain.

And yet, in all the pain and hopelessness there is in our hearts, there is still one thing to find a measure of hope in. And that is this: "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

No matter how dark, or how impossibly long the night may seem, we know that eventually morning will come. No matter how strong the wind is, or how high the waves of the hurricane may grow, pretty soon the storm will pass and all that is left is memories and a need to recompose.
Just as the rainbow that God placed in the sky after Noah's flood, he has given us a promise also. That his mercy is always new. That each trouble, each night we may face, in the morning, at the end of the tunnel there is a compassionate and understanding and loving God.

"You came near when I called you,
and you said, "Do not fear."
O Lord, you took up my case;
you redeemed my life."