Hope in Times of Trouble

One of my favorite scriptures for encouragement is Lamentations 3. Jeremiah wrote this about 600 years before Christ. Jerusalem had been overtaken by Babylon and the people had either been killed or taken as slaves. Jeremiah had been trying to warn the people, but they wouldn't listen. So, he wrote a funeral dirge to express his feelings. Here is part of what he wrote beginning in verse 16 (NIV):
He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord." 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." The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Have you ever felt like God had broken your teeth with gravel? That he had trampled you into the dust? It's the way we feel when life has taken a really bad turn. We feel sad and discouraged. We feel that God is mad at us or has forgotten us. We would probably feel this way if another country conquered us and turned us into their slaves. This is what Jeremiah was going through. We would probably blame God, just like Jeremiah did. And the more he thought about his situation, the more depressed he became. Again, we can certainly identify with that.
But then, this passage takes a wonderful turn. Jeremiah remembers that God is good and that God loves him. He writes some of the most hopeful and encouraging words ever written: "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." These words gave him hope. Hope is one of the most wonderful gifts that our faith gives us. Things may be bad now, but there is always hope if we trust in God. We may be down, but we're not out. God's mercies are new every morning - in other words, they never fail. He loves us unconditionally all the days of our lives and he will never leave us or forsake us. He isn't mad at us and hasn't forgotten us. It just feels that way sometimes. God is faithful to those who believe even when we are unfaithful.
Jeremiah said in verse seventeen that he had forgotten what prosperity was. But now he realizes that God is his portion. This may be a reference to Aaron not receiving a portion when the land was divided among the tribes. God had instead told Aaron that HE would be his portion. Friendship with God is more than we will ever need and more valuable than any possession we will ever own.
Finally, Jeremiah remembers that God keeps his word. It is good to wait for God's salvation. It is good to put our hope and trust in him. We only hurt ourselves when we try to take matters into our own hands and try to earn our own right standing with God. The Messiah took care of that once for all; now we simply must put our trust in him. Jeremiah was waiting for the coming Messiah, we are waiting for his return. And because of God's great love, we have hope. We can know that it's going to be more than okay.