Dejected Again Yet Hope Remains

Lamentations 3:46-51

I referenced in our last article how Jeremiah was beginning to feel his circumstances weighing him down again. He had experienced hope and peace, but reality appeared to be setting in and he was struggling. Unfortunately, these verses today show us that he continued to get lower and he continued to struggle. I posed the question “can he maintain his hope and peace in God?” at the end of the previous article. That is a questions we will try and answer as we continue throughout this chapter.

Jeremiah is feeling alone again. This time, however, it is not his own people who are causing him to feel this way, it is the nations around them. He says that “all our enemies have opened their mouths against us. Fear and snare have come upon us, desolation and destruction.” (emphasis mine) in Lamentations 3:46-47.

This is different than how he had viewed his position back in Lamentations 3:14 where he says, “I have become the ridicule of all my people – their taunting song all the day.” It is slight, but it is still a different mindset that he now has. He is no longer looking at his circumstances; he is looking at his people’s circumstances. It is not shown anywhere in Scripture that his circumstances amongst his countrymen changed, so it appears to be a different mindset he now has.

He suffers at the sight of his people hurting. We have seen in previous verses (3:37-42) and articles (He Must Be Just and Turn Back for Him) that Jeremiah fully understood why Israel had to be wiped out but seeing it with his own eyes ached his soul. His eyes overflowed with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of his people (verse forty-eight and fifty-one). He did not just cry, he wept rivers of water! Though his people had rejected and ridiculed him he still loved them deeply. He hated to see them suffer though he knew they deserved it.

His tears continued to flow unceasingly without interruption (verse forty-nine). He continued to hurt. And yet, he still shows us that he hopes in the Lord! In Lamentations 3:50 he says, “Till the Lord from heaven looks down and sees.” He acknowledges that he will hurt and he will weep until the Lord comforts him! This is an amazing display of hope yet again! Jeremiah does not blame God for the circumstances he finds himself in. We have seen that he is hurting deeply. Very, very deeply. But he continues to wait with full hope in the Lord!

It is such a powerful change in the mindset and in the heart of Jeremiah. His circumstances remained the same, but his hope grew. He did not lose that hope that he had found, he held on, which answers our question does it not? He did maintain his peace and hope in God, and you could even argue that it grew!

We must remember that Jeremiah was just a man. Nothing more, nothing less. This hope he was able to have was not a blind hope, it was an expectant hope. It was also a supernatural hope: a hope that only exists through God’s power.

We can have this same hope. When we feel alone, forsaken, and depressed we can still be filled with hope. Does that seem impossible? It is, but for God. He alone can give us this hope, but we must humbly call on Him and ask for His help. He will help us, and we will cherish the closeness we get to experience with a God wants to be close to us. A God who loves us enough to send His Son to die for us.

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