Lamentations 3:55-58

Lamentations 3:55-58 (ESV): “55  “I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit; 56  you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’ 57  You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’ 58  “You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life.”

It was Eleanor Roosevelt who said, “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all.”We serve a God of hope, but we don’t fully comprehend this until we are faced with a hopeless circumstance. Only then does He show us the kind of hope we truly have in Him.

Jeremiah understood what it felt like to be hopeless. He lamented the fall of Jerusalem, knowing the nation was destroyed. Yet, he also knew the God he served—the God of hope—was the solution to his despair. So he cried out to God with honesty and desperation. The Lord answered him with these words: “Do not fear.”That assurance was all Jeremiah needed. He didn’t need to know how God would do it, only that He would. And indeed, God took up his cause!

When you face a situation that feels hopeless, where do you run? To whom do you cry out? God is near, and when we cry out to Him, we will hear the same words: “Do not fear.” He will take up our cause because He loves us. The circumstance is simply the catalyst for hope. How else can we truly say that there is always hope unless we’ve stood face to face with hopelessness. But in those moments, God hears us, and He will redeem our situation too—because He is the God of hope. Amen?

Father, we thank You that we can always have hope, no matter what we face, because You are with us. To whom else can we go for help in our time of need but to You? You are our hope and our salvation, and we will trust in You. Help us in our weakness, strengthen our faith, and remind us to rest in Your promises. We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.