Lamentations 3:21-23 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. The prophet Jeremiah is looking back on the fall of Jerusalem - the results of Israel's rebellion and disobedience to God... He is looking at the poverty and devastation all around him. In all this he can still see that because of God's great love for His people, He didn't completely destroy the nation, but saved a remnant. Jeremiah had preached his heart out and most of the time he was criticized or incarcerated. The book of Lamentations is his cry of despair. Yet even in this he catches a glimpse of the compassionate God whose faithfulness is brand new with each new day. His faithful ones still have this hope and His faithfulness has not changed or diminished to this day. Our response needs to be as Lam.3:40 "Let us examine our ways and test them and let us return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven and say: 'We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.'" Just as sometimes it is necessary to allow our children to feel the pain of their own bad choices, so God does with us at times because He love us too much to let us destroy ourselves without warning. Psalm 30:4-5 "Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." As God is faithful, He calls upon us as His children to be faithful. Let us learn faithfulness as we see and experience it from our Heavenly Father.

Faithfulness Calls for Faithfulness