Today’s reading: Lamentations 3:19-36

It is good for one…to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it, to put one’s mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope)… Lamentations 3:27a, 28-29

There may yet be hope. 

This is a statement of defiance. The book of Lamentations is best known for verses 22 and 23, verses that inspired the hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Yet, those verses are just about the only positive verses in the entire book. Lamentations is named such for what it does: laments. 

To lament means to express grief and sorrow. Yesterday, we saw how the Israelites went into exile, losing their homeland and sense of security. In exile, they write many laments, some of which are Psalms, and including this book of the Bible. They express their deep sorrow, their anguish, their frustration. They even blame God, as much as they also blame themselves. 

They lament before God. Consider how the reading for today ends: “when justice is perverted in the presence of the Most High, when one’s case is subverted, does the Lord not see it?” (v. 35-36) The author, in rhetorically asking the question, does not seem to believe that God does see it. 

And yet, and yet, there may be hope. To express such when faith seems to fail, when God seems to fail, when life is bleak, when we have more questions than answers and more doubts than a firm foundation, to say, “there may yet be hope,” is a bold, defiant, statement of faith. It says, no matter the evidence around me that says otherwise, I will hold true to my faith. I will, as the author Philip Yancey says, “believe in advance what will only make sense in reverse.”

In particular, I love that this phrase is in parenthesis. I imagine someone wailing, moaning, this liturgy in a group, perhaps during a worship service. Then, in the midst of the lament, the speaker says, almost in a whisper, “there may yet be hope.” 

Such whispering says, with defiance against the grievous things of life, don’t lose the faith, keep hope alive. It reminds me of a lyric from the band Mumford and Sons, “so when your hope’s on fire, but you know your desire, don’t put a glass over the flame, don’t let your heart run cold, I will call you by name, I will share your road.” I hear the “I” in that lyric as God speaking to us, even to me. There may yet be hope.

Think
I wonder, where in your life do you need to hear that there may yet be hope? Or who in your life needs to hear that message today? 

Pray
Ask God to help you see where there is hope, for God is always moving around us in surprising ways.

Do
When facing problems, whether your own or walking the journey with someone else, keep whispering, “there may yet be hope.” 

Think, Pray, Do. As we respond in faith to scripture, God moves in power through our minds, hearts, and bodies. We are the people of God. Thanks for reading today. Go in peace. Amen.

Think, Pray, Do devotionals by Ted Goshorn follow the suggested bible reading plan from his website and book, Prayer Changes Us. Find this Bible reading plan at tedgoshorn.org/biblereading. If you have found today’s devotion helpful, don’t forget to subscribe for daily emails at tedgoshorn.org and share with others that we may think, pray, and do faithfully.