Tuesday, September 8, 2009

My Portion

“[Because of] the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! I say: the Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in Him.” (Lamentations 3:2-24)

Jerusalem was a terrible place to be during the Babylonian siege. Untold suffering was their daily menu for about 2-years. The Lamentations of Jeremiah were written apparently during that time, and some of the descriptions of life then are absolutely repugnant. Many of the laments recorded then are full of sorrow and a sense of abandonment. The reality, of course, is that Judah and Jerusalem abandoned God, and after centuries of layered evil, including such atrocities as child sacrifice to Baal, God’s hand of judgment came against them through Nebuchadnezzar.

Not everyone was without faith, however. In the midst of those who rejected the Lord, we find folks like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, along with Jeremiah and Baruch and a number of unnamed others. And yet, these folks went through the same suffering and sorrow everyone else did. Their faith remained intact because it was genuine, and they expressed it through their faithfulness.

We see someone’s faithfulness in this verse: “Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! I say: the Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in Him.” In the arena of suffering they experienced, to make such a statement can only come from a genuine faith commitment. To say that the Lord is your chosen portion, and that you are committing your hope into His hands regardless of what comes is a clear expression of what genuine faith is all about.

God’s mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. May we faithfully follow Him.

Lord, You are our portion. You are the Lord our God. We follow You regardless. Amen.

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