Hope is Here

“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.”
Lamentations 3:21-22

There is a popular television program called Once Upon a Time, its premise - all of our most beloved fairy tale characters are under a terrible curse, trapped in a world that is not their own and they have no memory of who they once were. Really not so unlike us living in this fallen world so far removed from how it was created, unable to remember who we were made to be.

A recent episode told the story of Hansel and Gretel – it was a bit different from the story we may have read but when it came down to the end of the story – the children were able to resist the offer of riches from the evil queen because they had hope in their father and family. It made me think about how much hope we can have because of the LORD’s great love.

The news these days is filled with loss and in many cases stories of hopelessness. A cruise ship runs aground, violent crime seems on the rise, a large employer in my own community is scheduled to close leaving hundreds of people without jobs. In the verses leading to today’s reading the author of Lamentations is reflecting on what has been lost he says “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me” (vv19-20). But then he remembers – I am not alone, I still have hope even with the losses I have suffered, even with the losses I may still face – because of the LORD’s great love I do not, we do not have to be hopeless. God never fails us if we just trust in Him.

I don’t know how the New Year has started for you – mine has not started on as positive a note as I would like – but there is hope because I serve a GOD that is so big that really I can’t comprehend the power available to me and His compassion and love never fails – He promises that.

A Prayer
Father, thank you for the hope we have in You. Thank you for your great love and for the compassion that never fails. Be with us, provide for us, show us your promises in actions. As we find our strength in you may we praise you in new and bolder ways. Help us also to share that hope with others. In the name of Jesus our hope, Amen.