A Thought For The Week Of August 13

"I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.'” (Lamentations 3:24) "The Lord is my portion" goes all the way back to the Levites in the Book of Numbers. Unlike the rest of the tribes of Israel, they weren't given any land - but they were given the Lord; the special responsibility to be the priests of the nation. Having the Lord as their portion was better than anything else they could have been given. In Lamentations, the idea is a little bit different, though. Lamentations was written as a lament over the destroyed city of Jerusalem and its Holy Temple. Jerusalem and the Temple were central to the identity of God's people. To see them in such a state was pitiful, and left the people wondering whether they should even bother going on. With so much that had been central to their understanding of themselves as a people and to their very faith now gone, did the future hold anything except increasing bleakness. There are a lot of laments in the church today. A lot of what had been seems to have been taken away, and the future is a question mark in many ways. What does it hold? For us as Christians? For the church as a whole? Sometimes it seems pretty bleak. And then I find hope - in a book called "Lamentations!" The Lord is our portion! God is still with us! Even if what we had is taken away, and even if we're given nothing back in return - the Lord is our portion! God is still with us! There's no reason to despair. Whatever causes you to lament - do so. Lamentation is like grief - sometimes it's necessary, but we should never get lost in it or trapped by it. The Lord is our portion. We should wait on God. Somehow grief is turned to joy and lament becomes celebration. Somewhow we make it through the wilderness and our exile - and we find the joy of the Kingdom! Never fear. The Lord is with you. Wait for him. Have a great week!