Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Effective prayer”
Our Bible verse for today: “You, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.” Lamentations 5:19 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “No matter how bad your situation seems at the moment, God is still on the throne.”
Lamentations is one of the saddest books in the Bible. It was written by the prophet Jeremiah after the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonian army and the Jews were taken into captivity. The city was in ruins, the people were enslaved, and they had nobody to blame but themselves. God had warned them repeatedly to repent and return to Him but they did not.
Now, as Jeremiah surveyed the devastation, he lamented (thus the name of the book “Lamentations”). It is five chapters of weeping and grieving. But even then, even in the midst of utter devastation, God was still on the throne and His people were not without hope. In chapter 3:22-26, as he looked upon the ruins and grieved for his people, Jeremiah observed:
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait on him.’ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”
Then, just two chapters later, he ended the letter of Lamentations with a word of hope and assurance, “You, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.” 5:19
The short book of Lamentations helps us to remember that God is good, all the time, and even in the worst of times He is still on the throne and He is still in control. His character is completely good, His love for us never fails, and we can always hold fast to Him.
Beyond that, although we invariably focus on our immediate circumstances (as Jeremiah did), God views the same circumstances from His eternal perspective. In Lamentations 5:19 Jeremiah was reminding himself, and us, that time will pass and God’s plan for restoration will unfold. The days will turn into weeks, the weeks into months, the months into years, and over time our circumstances will change for the better.
This is an important perspective for us to bring into our prayer time. God is not defeated by our present circumstances, as bad as they may seem to us, and therefore we don’t have to be defeated by them either. Instead we need to look to Him, place our faith and hope in Him, and hold fast to Him.
No matter how bad things look, God is still on the throne.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 