Remembering God’s Mercy

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!

His mercies never cease.

Great is his faithfulness;

his mercies begin afresh each morning.

I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance;

therefore, I will hope in him!”

The LORD is good to those who depend on him,

to those who search for him.

So it is good to wait quietly

for salvation from the LORD.

Lamentations 3:22-26

In the book of Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah expressed his anguish over the fall of Jerusalem—the culmination of God’s judgment, which he himself had foretold over a period of years. Yet even through his tears over his destitute people, Jeremiah had an occasion to praise God. He dared to hope in God’s undying love for his people. He recalled God’s faithfulness and mercy. God himself was the reason the nation of Israel had been rescued from slavery and established in a prosperous land. God himself was the reason that Israel and Judah were not completely destroyed.

Hope is born from this kind of remembering of what God has done. And once our hope is revived, we find ourselves able—even eager—to wait quietly for his salvation, which surely will come.

• Dear Lord, you are good to those who depend on you and search for you . . .