Lamentations 3:25-66 Niv

For Reading and Meditation:     Lamentations 3:19-27

Now we come to the turning point of the seventy-third psalm - the point where the psalmist takes the first step toward the resolution of his problem. We must not forget that the purpose of this psalm is to show us how the writer solved his problem, so that when we get into the same kind of difficulty we can apply...

For Reading and Meditation:     Psalm 19:7-14

We said yesterday that exposed problems are the only ones that can be resolved. Is this just an interesting theory, or is it something that can be supported from Scripture? Let me see if I can convince you that this statement has a biblical basis. Come back with me to the Garden of Eden and think again about the...

THE Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works; but He is especially benevolent, kind, and attentive to the praying, waiting soul. He has prepared of His goodness for the poor, and His goodness is ever great towards us. He bids us ask, promises to bestow, makes us wait, and then blesses us indeed. We have proved Him to be good; but if we had more faith in Him, and were more earnest with Him, we should see and enjoy His goodness in a much greater degree. He delivered...

"For the LORD will not cast off for ever." Lamentations 3:31

He may cast away for a season but not forever. A woman may leave off her ornaments for a few days, but she will not forget them or throw them upon the dunghill. It is not like the LORD to cast off those whom He loves, for "having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end." Some talk of our being in grace and out of it, as if we were like rabbits...

"It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth." Lamentations 3:27

This is as good as a promise. It has been good, it is good, and it will be good for me to bear the yoke.

Early in life I had to feel the weight of conviction, and ever since it has proved a soul-enriching burden. Should I have loved the gospel so well had I not learned by deep experience the need of salvation by grace? Jabez was more honorable than...

Observe how positively the prophet speaks. He doth not say, "I hope, I trust, I sometimes think, that God hath pleaded the causes of my soul"; but he speaks of it as a matter of fact not to be disputed. "Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul." Let us, by the aid of the gracious Comforter, shake off those doubts and fears which so much mar our peace and comfort. Be this our prayer, that we may have done with the harsh croaking voice of surmise and suspicion, and may be able to speak with...

The act of prayer teaches us our unworthiness, which is a very salutary lesson for such proud beings as we are. If God gave us favours without constraining us to pray for them we should never know how poor we are, but a true prayer is an inventory of wants, a catalogue of necessities, a revelation of hidden poverty. While it is an application to divine wealth, it is a confession of human emptiness. The most healthy state of a Christian is to be always empty in self and constantly depending...

The spouse who fondly loves her absent husband longs for his return; a long protracted separation from her lord is a semi-death to her spirit: and so with souls who love the Saviour much, they must see his face, they cannot bear that he should be away upon the mountains of Bether, and no more hold communion with them. A reproaching glance, an uplifted finger will be grievous to loving children, who fear to offend their tender father, and are only happy in his smile. Beloved, it was so once...

This modest text is supported by a bolder and more eloquent one in Isaiah. " Men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him." Those that waited for the Messiah, and at length beheld him, found the promise of these texts verified in their experience.

But we have not in this dispensation bid farewell to the attitude of waiting. The great and precious things bestowed upon us, do not hinder...

From the context, the meaning is evident. He casts off his people from certain experiences of his love of which they have shown themselves unworthy, until they are humbled and penitent, fervent and believing. God does not arbitrarily resume his benefits. There is ever an adequate reason, and if we search the records of our experience, we shall find it. We should very carefully note what it was in our conduct, what remissness or sluggishness or waywardness or worldliness, that caused the...