The God of All Comfort
Read: 2 Corinthians 1:1-11 Blessed be the . . . God of all comfort. (v. 3) In his memoir A Heart That Works, Rob Delaney begins with a challenge to the reader. Imagine, he says, that your beloved child has contracted a deadly disease and you are forced to watch, helpless, as they die. Delaney begins this way because […]
God Is Still God
Read: Lamentations 5:15-22 But you, O LORD, reign forever. (v. 19) At the conclusion of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton is about to be executed for a crime he didn’t commit. He’ll die in another man’s place, yet goes to the guillotine with serenity. Why? He imagines the other man living a […]
Vain Hope
Read: Lamentations 4:11-17 We watched for a nation which could not save. (v. 17) In December 2008, Bernard Madoff was arrested for fraud. For years, Madoff promoted a massive Ponzi scheme consisting not of real assets but money contributed by investors. By the time the scheme was exposed, the money was gone. Thousands of investors, who […]
You Heard Me
Read: Lamentations 3:55-66 I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit. (v. 55) During the Second World War, Dutch citizen Corrie ten Boom and her family were arrested for sheltering Jewish refugees. Corrie and her sister, Betsie, were interned at the Ravensbruck prison camp, where they endured grueling conditions. Before her […]
Return to the Lord
Read: Lamentations 3:37-50 Let us test and examine our ways. (v. 40) The Hebrew verb often translated “repent” means, literally, “to turn” or “to return.” Repentance, in other words, isn’t simply a change of heart and mind; it’s a radical change in direction. By the time of the exile, the Israelites had spent centuries running from […]
Wait for the Lord
Read: Lamentations 3:27-33 The Lord will not cast off forever. (v. 31) The film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is based on events from the life of children’s entertainer Fred Rogers. In the story, Mister Rogers befriends a journalist who bears a lifelong grudge against his father. In spite of the son’s anger, the father […]
New Every Morning
Read: Lamentations 3:19-26 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end. (v. 22) One of my privileges as a pastor is getting to know people who’ve lived a long time. I hear their life stories and benefit from their wisdom. But occasionally, they express a unique kind of grief: […]
Caught in the Crossfire
Read: Lamentations 3:1-15 He bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow. (v. 12) Following September 11, 2001, a few prominent Christian leaders were quick to assign blame—not to terrorists, but to their fellow Americans. These leaders argued that 9/11 was God’s judgment. They claimed they were innocently suffering for the sins […]
Cry Out in the Night
Read: Lamentations 2:17-22 Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! (v. 19) During their “empty nest” years, my grandparents cared for foster children. Many of them carried emotional wounds and dysfunctional coping strategies. Once, a child burned himself on the wood stove. Instead of telling my grandparents, he hid his injury […]