PRÉCIS ON LAMENTATION LEADING TO OUR GREAT HOPE IN THE DAYS OF AFFLICTION

SCRIPTURE. “[O Lord] remember [earnestly] my affliction and my misery, my wandering and my outcast state, the wormwood and the gall. My soul has them continually in remembrance and is bowed down within me. But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation:

It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness. The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.” – LAMENTATIONS 3:19-24, AMPC

KEY TERM: “HOPE.” ‘Yosher’ [ישֶׁר]: “A primitive root, ‘To be open, wide, free, or safe;’ also, to avenge, defend or deliver; to preserve or rescue, bring victory; refers to straightness, rightness or evenness.” NOTE: “The Hebrew word ‘yosher’ conveys the idea of moral integrity, uprightness, and righteousness. It is often used to describe a state of ethical and moral rectitude, reflecting a life lived in accordance with God’s Laws and Principles. In the Biblical context, ‘yosher’ is associated with honesty, fairness, and justice, emphasizing a life that aligns with Divine Standards.” 

QUOTATION.  “A godly man in the midst of the waves and storms that he meets with can see the Glory of Heaven before him and so contents himself. One drop of the sweetness of Heaven is enough to take away all the sourness and bitterness of all the afflictions in the world. We know that one drop of sourness, or one drop of gall will make bitter a great deal of it; but if you put a spoonful of gall into a cup of sugar, it will embitter that. Now it is otherwise in Heaven: One drop of sweetness will sweeten a great deal of sour affliction, but a great deal of sourness and gall will not embitter a soul who sees the Glory of Heaven that is to come.” ― JEREMIAH BURROUGHS, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, 1643; edited 

COMMENTARY. “The Prophet relates the more gloomy and discouraging part of his experience, and how he found support and relief. In the time of his trial the Lord had become terrible to him. It was an affliction that was misery itself; for sin makes the cup of affliction a bitter cup. The struggle between unbelief and faith is often very severe. But the weakest believer is wrong, if he thinks that his strength and hope are perished from the Lord.

‘Having stated his distress and temptation, the Prophet shows how he was raised above it.’ Bad as things are, it is owing to the Mercy of God that they are not worse. We should observe what makes for us, as well as what is against us. ‘God’s compassions fail not; of this we have fresh instances every morning.’ Portions on Earth are perishing things, but God is a portion for ever. It is our duty, and will be our comfort and satisfaction, to hope and quietly to wait for the Salvation of the Lord. Afflictions do and will work very much for good: Many have found it good to bear this yoke in their youth; it has made many humble and serious, and has weaned them from the world, who otherwise would have been proud and unruly.

‘If tribulation work patience, that patience will work experience, and that experience a Hope that makes not ashamed.’ Due thoughts of the evil of sin, and of our own sinfulness, will convince us that it is of the Lord’s Mercies we are not consumed. If we cannot say with unwavering voice, ‘The Lord is my portion;’ may we [otherwise] say, ‘I desire to have Him for my portion and Salvation, and in His Word do I Hope.’ Happy shall we be, if we learn to receive affliction as laid upon us by the hand of God.’” – MATTHEW HENRY, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

DK’S TAKE. As I was taking my early morning stroll today with Scout the Wonder Dog in faithful tow, I was mumbling to the Lord’s Spirit that I was profoundly grateful for the lives He has given to me and my family in these turbulent days. But added that I was concerned if I would have ‘The Right Stuff’ to endure real affliction should they come to me – deprivation, pain, even imprisonment or execution.

And here is what I believe, by Faith, I heard Him say in reply: “What makes you think that I would be any less faithful in those conditions than in the present ones?”

Beloved, I do believe that was His Voice of Reassurance to us all, that He would never abandon a faithful servant under persecution. Indeed, He at those moments would be ‘Closer than a brother to those who obey Him! (Proverbs 18:24). Therefore do we have not only ‘Hope,’ but no less than “Our Blessed Hope” in Jesus Christ Himself, our soon coming, All-Conquering King!

‘Maranatha! Even so, Come Lord Jesus!’