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By Sam Smith|Published Date: March 15, 2010
Lamentations 3:25-27
25The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. 26It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. 27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
The Story: Building on hope for provisions of the Lord’s daily grace, the voice of the comforter now encourages trust through patiently waiting. Without the promise, waiting is a pointless marking of time by the delusional, the alcoholic, or the suicidal. Yet for the one whose God is the Lord, waiting with a humbled but trusting spirit is proclaimed as good. Here is encouragement to face the next day knowing that hope is certain, and the waiting process requiring greater dependence on the Lord is transforming.
The Structure: Declaring something good occurs first in Scripture in Genesis 1. The Lord’s physical creation on each successive day is declared “good” and when man and woman are added, it is declared as “very good” (Gen. 1:31). The entrance of sin deeply scarred but did not change its inherent goodness. But, the good being spoken of in the above text is of a different type. It is a goodness born out of adversity. This goodness leads to strength of faith and character as one places his or her very life into God’s hands. The Lord Jesus gives us a picture of this when He stood before His accusers in silence, finding no need of defending His innocence (Mark 14:16). What God brings into each one of our lives is in harmony with the ultimate good to those who are His, even suffering. The Lord acts in redemptive history to restore what sin and Satan have destroyed. On the part of His people, waiting patiently allows them to cultivate a deeper faith. Waiting may be perceived as an unnecessary delay from our point of view, but in actuality it is a time for strengthening the relational bond between the Lord and His people.
Have you found yourself in a no-win situation feeling like you are clinging to a life-raft in the middle of a shark-invested ocean? You now need to live by faith, and this is good.
For more information on this topic, get the book, Jeremiah, Lamentations, by Tremper Longman III. Or read "Foolish and Slow of Heart: Living by Faith Rather than by Sight," by T.M. Moore in our online worldview library.
The Worldview Bible examines the teaching of Scripture according to the Story and Structure of Truth – the Framework of Christian Worldview – using only other Scriptures for illumination. Information about The Framework of Truth is available on this site. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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