It's a tiny little book packed away in the Old Testament with a title that itself is forbidding--"The Lamentations of Jeremiah." Few ever read it.
But it's very good bedtime reading, full of encouragement and comfort.
Israel had just suffered the most awful devastation--and the Lord Himself had permitted it to come!
(a) The Lord knew that you and I would need this book.
(b) The sufferings of Israel and Jerusalem would have significance for the church down to the end of time: we today are not genetically better people than those Israelites of Jeremiah's time; and we need to realize our need of repentance.
(c) They were sorely tempted to think of the Lord as their "enemy," and when everything seems to go against us today we are so tempted, likewise; but He pities and He loves us, ... still.
(d) Chapter three is in poetry:
(e) "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness" (vss. 22, 23).
(f) "Our beloved brother Paul" (cf. 2 Peter 3:15) tells us that our "carnal mind is enmity against God" (Rom. 8:7). Don't run out the door in discouragement: the truth never hurts when it's "in Christ." Yes, all the evil apostasy that ancient Israel exemplified in Jeremiah's day could be ours today--but for the grace of Christ, our Savior. If He were to relax His hold on us, we could repeat their apostasy of Jeremiah's day.
(g) Therefore in great thanksgiving of heart let us say with him, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed: great is Thy faithfulness," O Lord!
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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