These verses are very familiar to me. I had them printed and taped to my bathroom mirror for many years. And I have memorized them in the form of a song I learned as a child.
Although I memorized the words of the verses, I didn’t memorize the location in the Bible. I rarely am able to recall book, chapter, and verse for any Bible quote, and, despite their familiarity, these are no exception.
So I was a little surprised to see that these extremely hopeful and praise-filled verses come from the book of Lamentations. Lamentations is exactly what it sounds like — a book of woe, sorrow, and lament.
In fact all the verses in this chapter leading up to today’s verse are full of shame and regret. They claim God has rightfully turned His face from the author because of his willful sin and rebellion. Verse after verse talk about how God has “ground my teeth with gravel” and “walled me in with blocks of stone” and “forced me to walk in darkness instead of light.”
Poetic. But oh so grim.
And then comes today’s two verses.
The whole chapter takes a dramatic turn from desperate despair to confident hope, as if the author has just seen a flickering light in the distance and remembered the way out of a deep tunnel. He remembered God. He remembered who God IS.
I’ve been in some dark places in my life. Desperate places of despair. Most people encounter these dark realms at some point in their lives because this is a fallen world full of pain and loss and chaos. In those dark tunnels is exactly where the devil wants us to stay, full of shame and fear and regret.
It is exactly in those dark tunnels that today’s verses are so important, so desperately needed. When all is black, I remember who God IS. God is faithful, merciful, and full of love. Always. No blackness can prevent the new morning from bringing His light to shine on me again.
Dear God,
Thank you so much that no matter what I do, no matter what happens to me or because of me, you remain the same. Your light of love and faithfulness can never be extinguished by my sin. Forgive me for stumbling around in the dark, wallowing in self-pity, instead of sitting patiently and confidently in the hope of your salvation and rescue.
CamDevo 