Waiting On That Which Has No End

Text: Lamentations 3:1-33
 
Like a kid running around with a cape, leaping piles of pillows in a single bound, and flying through the air balanced on the outstretched legs of a playful adult, I often find myself pretending to be one of the Biblical Cinematic Universe’s many superheroes.  Reading scripture through the texture of my life, I have taken on the lens and personality of Moses, Paul, and, every once in awhile, even Jesus of Nazareth.
 
But today, and for awhile now, I feel a lot like Jeremiah—the prophet who wrote Lamentations while watching his people being forced into exile, his city torn to pieces, and the Temple of his Lord burned to the ground.
 
As a people and a church, we have been driven into isolation, some completely alone, and forced to practice social distancing.  Many of our plans and hopes—graduations, proms, huge milestones and other important events – have been torn to pieces.  Some of us have even lost friends and family, and darkness is all we see coming from the flames of our disconnected lives set ablaze. 
 
Isolation is Exile, and lamentation is the appropriate response to such times.
 
The words of Jeremiah speak to me here: ‘The memory of my suffering and homelessness is bitterness and poison.  I can’t help but remember and am depressed.  I call all this to mind—therefore, I will wait.’ (3:19-21)
 
And, like Jeremiah, we will wait.  What on what? On whom?
 
‘Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through! They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness. I think: The Lord is my portion! Therefore, I’ll wait for him.’ (3:22-24)
 
Jeremiah didn’t wear a cape and, as far as I know, he couldn’t fly—but his superpower was much more impressive: Hope.
 
In the face of darkness and despair, he had hope in the Lord.  Jeremiah waited for the Lord’s faithful love and great compassion, confident that they had not come to an end. 
 
I, too, wait on the Lord, convinced that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  And I am confident the Lord isn’t through with us yet.
 
Will you wait with me?