I have always loved, memorised, quoted and sung verses from this chapter. Hope filled, I sing of, that His steadfast love never ceases; His mercies never end; they are new, new as pools of His light, every morning. A new moment, a new beginning. Feelings re/ felt; rebuilt, renewed.
Laments are feelings, overwhelming, overflowing emotions,
from, Lamentations 3:7- 30; “I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 So I say, “My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly;
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young. 28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust(—
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.”
I sit alone, in silences, and let my feelings flow over and over, waves of sorrows. ‘This I recall to my mind therefore, for his mercies, his compassions fail not…’
More than my feelings are his compassions; more than my thoughts are his thoughts. I flow; he overflows. This is what I need to think on, recall.
He is my Morning Star. He is new every morning. I must know him. How? Hosea speaks to me on ‘how’ I can feel, recall him, from Hosea 6:6 – in two translations, first the NIV
‘For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.’ and from Young’s Literal Translation, YLT: ‘For kindness I desired,¬ sacrifice, and a knowledge of God above burnt-offerings’
before I lament, I overflow
before I can feel, before I can give mercy to another, i must know Him
before deep pains and sorrows, my silences wait with, in thought, with him
He is my hope in laments.
Hope.
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