Great Is Thy Faithfulness

If ever there were a champion lamenter, Jeremiah would have to be it. His life as a prophet was tough. His message wasn’t popular. Jeremiah went 23 years without one convert (Jeremiah 25:3). Think those numbers would look good on a report? There is a book in the Bible that is full of Jeremiah’s laments to the Lord. It is called Lamentations. Throughout this book, Jeremiah complains to God about how know one will accept or even appreciate his ministry. If you are depressed, Lamentations is not the book in the Bible to read. It is miserable from beginning to end – almost. Right in the middle of Lamentations, sandwiched between Jeremiah’s grief and sorrow, are these words from Lamentations 3:19-24: "I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.


Right in the middle of his Land Between, in the depths of his despair, Jeremiah is able to testify that God has not abandoned him.

Jeremiah understood that in lament, in the very act of voicing our trouble to God, we begin a conversation in which we have opened ourselves up to His care, mercy and provision.

Now's here's the really interesting thing about Moses' lamentation. Remember how Moses poured out his heart to God? The burden of leading God’s grumbling people was too heavy for him. So Moses complained to the Lord about his situation (Numbers 11:11-15)

What happened after Moses complained to God about his situation? Did God give up on Moses? Did God walk away? Numbers 11:16-17 gives us God's response to Moses' complaints: "The LORD said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone."

God was so gracious to Moses that He poured out his Spirit on some of the very same people who had been complaining about him, not to him. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. Not only did Moses' lamentation bring relief to him, but it became a blessing to the very people Moses was lamenting about!

What an amazing illustration of how God's mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.