Having Faith & Discipline in Turbulent Times
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(17) I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. (18) So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.” (19) I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. (20) I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. (21) Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: (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.’ (Lamentations 3:17-23)
The ‘weeping prophet’ Jeremiah (who I like to call the ‘Bad News Bear-er’), considered historically as the writer of Lamentations (though it may be a compilation of up to 4 other authors), in Lamentations 3:1 tells us that he is ‘the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord’s wrath’. The world Jeremiah knew was falling into disarray, destruction, and confusion, much like our world is today for us. There was sexual and immoral debauchery, internal political strife, external national threats (and eventual warfare), and a persecution of those having Faith in God and a repudiation of His Word – like there is today.
It was a fall from Spiritual Grace that precipitated a fall from secular prosperity for the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. At the time of this writing, Jeremiah was already experiencing strife; he was likely about to be or had been dropped into the well of mud (Jeremiah 38:1-13). His wealth, possessions, and his dignity were stripped from him, and he was likely experiencing depression, a sense of self-loathing, and an utter feeling of seemingly endless despair. It would appear to Jeremiah and many of the people of Israel and Judah, especially when the Babylonians started to march the Israelites off to exile, that their way of life was gone and would never return, and in a secular point of view, they were right. Almost all those taken captive to Babylon would never see Jerusalem or their homeland again.
But Jeremiah then acknowledges the Truth; that God is with us, and He has equipped us to live in this world to be His glory, whatever this world throws at us. Jeremiah had one thing that the world (and his Jewish enemies and the Babylonians) could never take away; God’s love for him and the Hope that Jeremiah had in the Lord. In a world of dark despair, God provided Jeremiah with a ray of light and a glimmer of Hope. This Faith that Jeremiah had in God, along with the discipline to confront the reality facing him, allowed Jeremiah to overcome his despair and continue to live for the Truth, to continue to share the prophecies that God had given him, and not give into the temptation of giving up. It is considered Jeremiah did not go into exile to Babylon but was allowed to remain in Judah until forced to relocate later to Egypt, where it is said he remained an evangelist for God until his death.
Like Jeremiah, being a Faithful servant of God may not translate to an earthly peace; we may be seeing our nation and our world entering into a time of strife similar in the experience of Jeremiah. We may be entering the initial days of the End Times and may even be in the early beginnings of the final Tribulation period, though only the Lord knows if this is ‘it’. Either way, like Hurricane Ian, we won’t be given a pass simply for being Christian; rather we will be here (at least for now) to be examples of what God’s Faithfulness brings in the midst of the strife. Every day is a new day; be glad and rejoice in His glory, despite the challenges we face (or will face)!
