Our Lament And God’s Response

“And you have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity. And I said, ‘my strength and hope have perished from the LORD. Remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers and sinks within me.
This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Your faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore I hope in Him! The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Lam. 3:17-26

1) Jeremiah’s suffering;
2) Jeremiah’s confusion;
3) Jeremiah’s recall;
4) Jeremiah’s hope; and,
5) Jeremiah’s salvation.

Jewish Study Bible:
“My life was bereft of peace, I forgot what happiness was. I thought my hope and strength had perished before the Lord. To recall my distress and my misery was wormwood and poison; whenever I thought of them, I was brought low.
Bu this do I call to mind, therefore I have hope: the kindness of the Lord has not ended, his mercies are not spent. They are renewed every morning – Ample is Your grace!

The Lord is my portion, I say with full heart; therefore will I hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who trust in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait patiently till rescue comes from the Lord.”

Ps. 40:5 – “Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.”

Prov. 20:22 – “Wait for the Lord, and He will save you.”
Wormwood and poison are symbolic of suffering.

Hope - #3176: yachal – waiting for the passage of time with the expectation of hope, rooted in God. {See Micah 7:7—“Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait (hope) for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.”}

Mercies - #2617: chesed – lovingkindness; love; mercy and grace. This is a covenant word from God to His people.

Faithfulness - #530: emunah: firmness, steadiness, steadfastness, certainty and trust. Comes from the word aman, which gives us the word, amen. {See Isa. 33:2, “O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.”}

Salvation - #8668: teshuah: help; assistance; deliverance; rescue – refers to God’s acts of help WHICH HAVE ALREADY OCCURRED AND ARE BEING EXPERIENCED! Wow.

The Lord is our rescue! He is “God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” “For we do not have a High Priest – Jesus – who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” As a result, we can “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”