A WEEPING WORLD

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

365 DEVOTIONS FROM OUR DAILY BREAD

A WEEPING WORLD

READ:  Lamentations 3:1-9, 24

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I hope in Him!”

Lamentations 3:24

A mother was told that her son had been killed in an accident on the job.  In that moment, her life was flooded with tears.  In another family, a sudden heart attack snatched away a husband, leaving a wife to face life alone.  More tears!  We live in a weeping world.

The book of Lamentations was written by Jeremiah, who is called the weeping prophet.  The citizens of Judah had been taken into captivity (1:3); Jerusalem lay in ruins (2:9-9); the people were destitute (2:11-12); their suffering was horrible beyond belief (2:20); and the prophet wept continually *3:48-49).  Yet Jeremiah still affirmed the mercies, the compassions, and the faithfulness of God.  From deep within him, his soul was saying, “The Lord is my portion, therefore I hope in Him!” (3:24).

What realism in those tear-saturated words!  It’s the reality that weeping and lamentations do not necessarily reflect a weak faith or a lack of trust in God.  Some of us may think that a Christian must feel joyful even when the heart is breaking-or at least try to appear that way.  But Jeremiah’s experience refutes that.  Tears are a natural part of a Christian’s life.  But thank God, one day in Glory our blessed Savior will wipe them all away (Revelation 21:4).   DJD

The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.