Hallelujah! Glory to God! The Lord has been good to us throughout the past week as He kept us safely under His mighty wings. He has been taking care of us since the time we were born into this world and He will take care of our lives until He returns or calls us home. Dr. Pappy, one of the co-Founders of Scripturesource Ministries, encourages his hearers [both young and old] whenever he gets an opportunity to commune with them, that

The Lord God Almighty who created the entire universe out of nothing [ex-nihilo] is the One who created us [i.e., you and me] in His own image and likeness, which being said, we can truly trust Him and rely on Him at any point of our life [both good and bad situations] that He will remain faithful to us. In fact, He has been good to us …

when we were just newborn babies

when we were still infants

when we were young children

when we were young boys and girls

when we were in our teenage years

when we were youths

when we were young adults, and

He will be good to us …

when we are grown ups adults

when we are middle aged people

when we are in our fifties and sixties, and

He will be good to us during our old age time.

Ultimately, the Lord our God would remain good and faithful to us right from our birth until we return to Him or He calls us home. So, we should not get over-excited when days are too good for us or we should not get worried when times are really bad.

Solomon, one of the wisest kings ever reigned in Israel, said: When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future (Ecclesiastes 7:14; also refer to 5:19-20; Romans 8:28; James 1:2-4). God’s goodness is extended to everyone who call upon the name of the Lord, as it is explicitly stated in Psalm 119 that [God] You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees (Psalm 119:68; also refer to 34:8; 145:9; Nahum 1:7). Two pivotal matters we can understand from what we read from Psalm 119:68 is that (i) God is good, and (ii) what He does is good. So, what we need to know is that God is good in His thoughts, in His words, in His plans, in His deeds, and so on. Therefore, let us love and trust the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength and serve and worship Him and Him alone who is good and faithful by His nature.

The Lord has blessed us with a definitive and promising Scripture passage for our SftW meditation this week, which is taken from the Old Testament book of Lamentations 5:19-21 (mentioned above). The book of Lamentations is written by prophet Jeremiah [who is known as the weeping/mourning prophet / Lamentations 1:16; 2:11; Jeremiah 4:19; 8:18-19, 21; 9:1; 16:5; 24:16-17] who laments because of the destruction of the Temple and the City of Jerusalem and taking its people as captives by the Babylonian army during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. The invasion of Judah by the Babylonians, the fall of Jerusalem and the exile of its people to Babylon were the most unpleasant things happened to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah. In his writings, prophet Jeremiah expresses his grief, despair, and disorder and chaos in the land because of the Babylonian invasion of the City and Temple, in addition to giving hopeful messages on divine intervention, divine deliverance, and divine restoration if they repent and return to Him wholeheartedly. Prophet Jeremiah affirms that the Lord their God allowed the bad things to happen for His people Israel/Judah, the Temple, and the City of Jerusalem because of their sin and rebelliousness against Him (Lamentations 1:8; 2:1-9; Jeremiah 9:11-13). The main reasons for God to bring down such severe punishment upon them were practiced widespread idolatry in the land and failed to observe the Sabbaths for the land (Leviticus 25:1-26:46). Though God established a covenant relationship with their ancestors, as years passed, many of them failed to comply with God’s holy covenant and damaged their relationship with Him. They practiced widespread idolatry in the land, burned incense before other gods [who are not god at all], and acted wickedly and mistreated the poor among them. Prophet Isaiah mentioned regarding their sin and rebelliousness as follows:

For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities:rebellion and treachery against the LORD, turning our backs on our God, inciting revolt and oppression, uttering lies our hearts have conceived. So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him (Isaiah 59:12-16)

Thus, they sinned against Him and acted unfaithfully before Him. Their unfaithful and unholy behaviors caused God’s anger and wrath to arise against them, which brought destruction upon the people, the Temple, and the City (Lamentations 2:4-22; 1 Kings 9:7; 2 Chronicles 36:11-21). In fact, God did not judge His people instantly or bring down His punishment upon them right away when they committed sin against Him but every time they sinned against Him He warned them time and time again through His prophets, seers, and other chosen peoples that judgment would come upon them if they continue to dishonor Him and forsake His righteous laws, decrees, and commands, and violate the holy covenant He established with them (Deuteronomy 28:49; 2 Kings 17:13; 2 Chronicles 36:15-16; Isaiah 30:9-10; Jeremiah 7:25-26; 25:4-5; Amos 3:7).

It is understood from the prophecies of Jeremiah that though the Lord punished His people for their unfaithfulness towards Him and banished them from the land He gave them as inheritance to a distant land that is not their own, He neither hated them nor abandoned them forever. It was his believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, is a God of compassion and faithfulness and willing to forgive and will definitely accept and welcome them if they genuinely repent and return to Him and will listen to their prayers and petitions and answer them favorably (Isaiah 55:6-7; Ezekiel 18:23; 33:11; Joel 2:13; Luke 15:7, 10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 2 Peter 3:9).

Prophet Jeremiah knew that the Lord is compassionate and faithful and will forgive their rebelliousness against Him, as it is stated: Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone (Lamentations 3:32-33). So, he urged his people to examine themselves and stop doing what they were doing and return to the Lord their God wholeheartedly, for he said: Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven (Lamentations 3:40-41). After describing about …

• • … the unfaithfulness of the Israelites (God’s people) towards their God and about the sins of priests and prophets (ch. 1, 4)
  • … God’s wrath and punishment upon His people because of their sin and rebelliousness against Him (ch. 2)
  • … God’s faithfulness and compassion towards His people and giving hope to restore them from the situation they were entangled in (ch. 3)
  • … God’s punishment upon His people, people’s struggles and sufferings because of the invasion, the lost glory of the Temple and the City of Jerusalem (ch. 4) …
  • … prophet Jeremiah invites his people to repent and return to the Lord their God as he prays for them and pleads with God to forgive their sin and rebelliousness against Him, and restore them and bring them back to the land the Lord their God gave their forefathers as their inheritance (ch. 5).

Jeremiah acknowledges that the Lord alone is God and only His throne endures from generation to generation forever and ever and God alone has the compassion and the wisdom and the power and the authority to draw His people towards Himself and restore them, as he stated: You, LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation … Restore us to yourself, LORD, that we may return; Renew our days as of old (Lamentations 5:19-21). This means, the Lord whom we worship and adore is the same Lord God Almighty who created this massive universe out of nothing as He is an Omnipotent (Almighty/all-powerful), Omniscient (all-knowing), Omnipresent (present everywhere at the same time), and an all loving God who alone can remain unchangeable for He remains the same for ever and ever.

Dear friends in the Lord, as we conclude this week’s SftW meditation, let us know the fact that the Lord God upon whom we place our trust is a God of compassion and faithfulness. He is the source of all kinds of goodness and mercy and love and joy and peace and forbearance and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22). Even when we make some mistakes in our life, if we repent and return to Him and plead with Him for His mercy upon our lives, He will forgive us and accept us back into the family of God. Therefore, let us love and trust the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27) for He is the only One who can restore us to Himself through His Son Jesus Christ as He exists from the timeless past [eternity] and will continue to exist forever and ever. May the Lord God Almighty bless us all! Amen!