(Rusty Rabon – The Fellowship of Ailbe) Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.
Merciful God, we confess that we have betrayed, denied, and forsaken You. We have failed to love as You have loved us. As we remember the cross, forgive us. Restore us. Strengthen us to follow in the way of Jesus, even to the foot of the cross. Amen.
Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24 NRSV I am one who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; against me alone he turns his hand, again and again, all day long. He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones; he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; he has made me sit in darkness like the dead of long ago. He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me; though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked. The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
Warren Wiersbe The faithfulness of God is a tremendous encouragement in days when people’s hearts are failing them for fear. If you build your life on people or on the things of this world, you will have no hope or security; but if you build on Christ, the Faithful One, you will be safe forever. He is faithful to chasten; Lamentations itself teaches this lesson. He wants to bring us to the place of repentance and confession. He is faithful to forgive when we do confess our sins. He is faithful to sympathize when we have burdens and problems. We never need fear that He is too busy to listen or too tired to help. He is faithful to deliver when we cry out for help in temptation. He is faithful to keep us in this life and unto life eternal. We can commit our lives and souls into the hands of the faithful Creator and know that He will do all things well.