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.

This passage is the lament of a broken man. In chapter 3, verse 1, it says: “I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.” And it goes on to describe how much separation this man feels from the Lord. In chapter two, Lamentations describes the wretched condition of the nation of Israel, as well. God’s judgment and his hand of wrath has fallen on them.

Bitterness and gall describe his attitudes, he has been beaten up and cast out. He wandered from the Lord and he has been dealing with a life full of harsh consequences to his past lack of faithfulness and bad actions. But … there is hope!

And he writes this: “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.” This is one of the greatest statements I have found in the Bible. I have come to it often in desperation and hardship. When I have blown it or sinned, I have come here in repentance.

Here is what I have found: When I have tried to take matters into my own hands over and over again and failed, and then reached the end of myself, I can cry out to him again, remembering his love. This is where the true healing can begin. This is where spiritual maturity is found.

The writer of Lamentations is King Solomon, son of David. He was born out of an adulterous act, surrounded by a cover up and the murder of his mom’s husband. At the same time, he was the son of a powerful king, with all of the privilege that brings. It was probably a challenging childhood. Early on he followed God. God gave him wisdom as a gift and he was known far and wide as the wisest man on earth. Other rulers visited him to learn from his wisdom.

But he became consumed with women and his pleasures and walked away from God. And here we see the anguish of heart this can cause. No amount of money or sex or power or prestige can replace the emptiness of life found absent a close relationship with God. Solomon is the extreme example of this. He was extremely wise, extremely wealthy, extremely surrounded by every pleasure imaginable, and yet extremely empty.

And now, as his nation is in shambles, and his personal relationship with God is distant, he remembers God’s love and his heart of compassion.

This may be where some of you are today? (I have been here in the past, too.) And I want you to know that God loves you and he has compassion on you. And when you repent of your sins and turn back to him, he extends mercy, instead of judgment. His mercies never fail and they are new every morning. He is faithful; he keeps his covenants and his word.

So all we need to do is wait on the Lord. Turn, repent of our sins, and wait on his mercy and faithfulness to restore us to rightness and goodness. He will carry us when we are too weak to spiritually walk. And he will operate on our hearts when we are too damaged and left for dead by the people of this world. He is the Great Physician, the Good Samaritan, and the Loving Father all wrapped up into one.

So reach out to God. Drop all the entanglements of this world and the vices that hold us back and reach out to the Father of Love. It’s never too late. It’s always the right time to turn to your loving Father.

Lord, I pray for those who read this and need a special touch from you today. Maybe a life of challenges, pain, bad decisions or abuse have hurt them. Or a life where heartache and unfairness have allowed bitterness and anger to grow and fester inside their hearts. I pray that you will give them the hope and wisdom to reach back out to you. You love the repentant heart and you specialize in making MASTERPIECES out of BROKEN PEOPLE!