Words of Hope Daily Devotional

Jeremiah: A Hope Renewed

Read: Lamentations 3:19-33

This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. (v. 21)

For 40 years, Jeremiah had been a faithful prophet of God—and it hadn’t been easy. The people of Judah rejected his call to repent of their sins. He endured mocking, beatings, persecutions, and imprisonments. Jeremiah was once thrown into a muddy cistern to die. He was a prisoner in the court of the guard when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians, and he saw the horrors of occupation that followed. Jeremiah’s loss was unimaginable, and his grief was real.

But there was another reality for Jeremiah to consider, and that was the reality of his God! God was not his enemy; God was the only hope to which he could continue to cling. The Lord’s “mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning” (vv. 22-23), he reminded himself. God is good to those who wait for him and his salvation. Jeremiah’s God would not cast off his people forever; “though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love” (v. 32). These truths gave Jeremiah hope; there would be a better end to this story—a story that would focus on God’s love and faithfulness.

God was not the enemy in the fall of Jerusalem, but there was an enemy that had brought death and despair in its wake. Sin was the true enemy, and Jeremiah turned to that subject next. Tomorrow we’ll read about the prophet’s call to his fellow countrymen.

As you pray, remember God’s mercies, which are new every morning.

Laura Sweet

Laura N. Sweet is a wife, mother, grandmother, and former Christian school teacher from Midland, Michigan. She writes devotional material for both adults and children, and her work has appeared in more than a dozen publications.