Growing Pains

Today I read two chapters of Lamentations because the first one was so depressing that I wanted some shred of hope, which I found in the next chapter.

Here is how bad things got:

Lord, look and consider what you have done this to. Should women eat their own children, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the Lord's sanctuary?

Lamentations 2:20

That's really disturbing. It was so desolate in Israel there that people fought over whose child they would eat next. Who knew there was cannibalism in the Bible? And surely God didn't intend for things to get that bad, right?

After you try to wrap your head around that, here is what Jeremiah says in the next chapter:

Remember my affliction and my homelessness, the wormwood and the poison. I continually remember them and have become depressed. Yet I call this to mind and therefore I have hope:

Because of the Lord's faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness! I say the Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in Him.

Lamentations 3:19-24

Jeremiah is understandably deeply depressed because of all he sees. But then, he says he has hope? After all this, who would? Only him, probably. 

You might recognize that next passage, because it is the basis for the hymn, "Great is Thy Faithfulness." I had no idea that it came out of Lamentations, of all places.

But I'm still upset about the cannibalism. Reading this verse offers some consolation:

For He does not enjoy bringing affliction or suffering on mankind.

Lamentations 3:33

Why did that never occur to me? That God didn't enjoy doing this? For a long time, I kind of imagined God up in Heaven like Zeus, holding a bag of lightning bolts, zapping them at people like a game of Angry Birds (except with lightning bolts instead of birds), laughing maniacally all the while. But here Jeremiah says he doesn't enjoy it.

It brings to mind that phrase, "This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you." Ever hear that one? Ever believe it? Do you enjoy disciplining your own children? And just like our parents didn't like disciplining us (or so we hope), God hated to punish the Israelites so harshly. It broke his heart. But they needed it. To help them grow. And sometimes growth is painful. Just like when you first start to run--it doesn't always feel good, especially at the beginning. When you work out, you're literally damaging your muscles, tearing them and breaking them down. But afterwards, your body repairs itself to make you stronger. God had to make sure that Israel was so devastated and torn down that they would learn from their mistakes. They were His special people and He wanted them to thrive and grow. Even a fertile field needs to lie fallow every so often. What was to come next would be a miracle.

Here is the promise God had for Israel (and us) in Isaiah:

For this is like the days of Noah to Me: when I swore that the waters of Noah would never flood the earth again, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you. Though the mountains move and the hills shake, My love will not be removed from you and My covenant of peace will not be shaken, says your compassionate Lord.

Isaiah 54:4, 7, 9-10.

Here is a promise from God in the Old Testament that He will no longer release His anger and wrath on us, even if we get it as wrong as the Israelites did in those days. We don't have to be afraid of God's judgment or live in fear that we might be struck down by lightning every time we mess up. We don't have to worry that a natural disaster is God's punishment for sins of the people. Because of His grace. Because of His faithfulness.

Here is the first verse of that hymn:

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father

Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.

He will never forsake or desert us. He is a faithful and loving God.

How have you experienced growing pains in your life? How has God shown you His faithfulness? How will you show your faithfulness to God?