“My eyes are tired from watching for your saving help, for the deliverance you promised,” declared David. (Psalm 119:123)
Have you ever felt this way? Perhaps you have been praying for a loved one who is stuck in a destructive pattern, or maybe you have been waiting for a spouse or in need of a financial breakthrough. Maybe you can’t find a job, or you are waiting for a dream God has put on your heart to be fulfilled.
Jeremiah, lived through one of the darkest periods in Old Testament history. He lamented the fate of Israel in a book we call Lamentations. But in the middle of his discourse, in the middle of his rant of despair, he gives the best advice possible for those of us in the wait.
He said when I think about all the bad things happening in Israel, I feel hopeless. I feel in despair. I feel depressed. It’s like taking bitter poison. BUT when I began to focus on God’s unfailing love, His faithfulness, His mercy, I now have hope! I now can face tomorrow! I now know, I will not be consumed!
So brothers and sisters who are with me in the wait, change your focus. Stop meditating on your woes and begin meditating on God’s goodness. Stop thinking about your problems and start thinking about your God. Stop declaring what God has not done and begin declaring what He has done and what He will do. Meditate on His unfailing love. Ponder His faithfulness. Think about His Mercy!
Friends, you can lament or you can declare. You can wallow in self-pity or you can walk in victory. You can take bitter poison or you can drink from the cup of life. Choose well, my friend.
“The thought of my pain, my homelessness, is bitter poison. I think of it constantly, and my spirit is depressed. Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing: The Lord ‘s unfailing love and mercy still continue, Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope. The Lord is good to everyone who trusts in him, So it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us— And it is best to learn this patience in our youth.”
Lamentations 3:19-27 GNTD
http://bible.com/69/lam.3.19-27.gntd