July 25th, 2011
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

God Is Our Portion

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Opening Prayer

Dear God, I thank You today for your changelessness. You are steadfast, reliable, and the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Read Lamentations 3:1-33

[1] I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. [2] He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; [3] indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. [4] He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. [5] He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. [6] He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. [7] He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. [8] Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. [9] He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked. [10] Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, [11] he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. [12] He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows. [13] He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. [14] I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long. [15] He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall. [16] He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. [17] 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. [23] They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. [24] I 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. [31] For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. [32] Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. [33] For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” (Psa. 85:6). God’s spirit is a reviving Spirit.

Think Further

Chapter 3 is different from the first two. It’s longer, as you may have noticed, with three verses rather than two for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It moves from an impassioned reaction toward personal affliction caused by coming to terms with being in exile. At the heart of it (22-33) is an impressive hymn of hope in God wrung out of the bitterness of defeat.

To begin with, though, the author is working out what is going on when God appears to be our antagonist rather than our friend and protector. If Jacob experienced God as a man, (Gen. 32:24-28) the author of Lamentations finds him like a wild animal (10) or an enemy archer (13). Yet, while it seems as though God isn’t even listening to his prayers (8), somewhere he can find cause for hope again. And what he finds is precisely what he needs in order to cope with exile. In v. 24 his soul realizes that the Lord is his portion. “Portion” here is the parcel of the Promised Land that all except the priestly class received; to Aaron, God said “I am your share.” (Num. 18:20). The exile can’t take his land with him, and that is part of the humiliation (19); if the Lord is his portion, he can take with him, and inside him, that which cannot be taken away by any invading army.

The theodicy (defense of God’s justice) that is at the heart of this chapter is not a matter of doing the math—whereby Israel would be getting a precise punishment for its disobedience, offset by the new relationship with God that emerges from repentance. The repeated “it is good” of vs. 26 and 27 indicates that there is some purpose when we suffer—but it often still remains a mystery.

Apply

How has God’s love been “new every morning” (23) for you? Pray that again today it will be fresh for you, not just a memory of past refreshments.

Closing prayer

Mighty God, You’re the end of all my beginnings. I seek to begin again with You today, to trust Your good purposes, no matter what I face. Thank You, Lord.

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