Borrowing Trouble

 July 1, 2024

If you’ve ever found yourself at the end of your strength, the limit of your endurance, hear the words of Jeremiah, who watched his nation overrun by foreign invaders.

“He has filled me with bitterness; 

He has sated me with wormwood. 

He has made my teeth grind on gravel, 

and made me cower in ashes; 

my soul is bereft of peace; 

I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, 

“My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.” 

Remember my affliction and my wanderings, 

the wormwood and the gall! 

My soul continually remembers 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.” 

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, 

to the soul who seeks him. 

It is good that one should wait quietly 

for the salvation of the Lord. 

For the Lord will not cast off forever, 

but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion 

according to the abundance of his steadfast love;”

—Lamentations 3:15-26, 31-32 

It can be very difficult to see beyond your immediate circumstances. We are strange creatures. If things are going well, we imagine it’s only temporary; trouble will surely come our way again. But If things are going badly, we see it as permanent; “All I ever have is bad luck; things will never get better.” Trouble will surely visit us, but we don’t have to invite it into our hearts to stay. Far better to invite Christ into every situation, “for he is good to those who wait for him.”