This morning my day began relatively normally: I awoke before the alarm jarred; stretched briefly before rolling out of bed; showered, greeted Behr, our golden retriever, before sitting at my desk. As I gave thought to the scheduled day before me, I noted an email confirmation: the changes in my rewrite of The Sent One had been approved. This meant that I could now order a second, hardcopy proof. If that proof is acceptable, then we can proceed to publishing and shipping the rewritten, reedited work to Malawi, for the benefit of elders and deacons within the Kaning’a CCAP church:
On November 1-4, I am to lead them into John’s Gospel via The Sent One. Hopefully, prayerfully the books will arrive in time. The email confirmation was a sign to me that our Lord is faithful, particularly as deadlines have loomed before me.
In the light of the email confirmation, and anticipating a later conversation, I found my heart and mind directed to Lamentations 3, wherein I knew I would read:
“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’”
I knew that I would read of the LORD’s steadfast love; I knew that I would read of His faithfulness as evident in His mercies new every morning – but I had forgotten the repetition of the word “hope.”
At daybreak, Jeremiah (or our author) hoped in the renewal of his LORD’s mercies; and yet, although verses 21 to 24 underscore the LORD’s faithfulness, these verses are like an oasis in the midst of a desert waste. In verse 13 we read: “He shot into my vitals”; in verse 16 we read: “He has made my teeth grind on gravel”; and in verse 19 we read: “The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!” Clearly, even though Jeremiah knew a bitter anguish I have never tasted, even though he could write: “[It is good] to put one’s mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope)”, he affirmed: “I will hope in [the LORD].”
This morning, as I think about a confirmation email or North Korea or the incivility of national leaders, both left and right, I am reminded: Great is Thy faithfulness and in Thee is my/our hope.
Hopefully,
Stan