Never Hopeless

“The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in Him!’ ” Lamentations 3:22-23 (NLT) The Bible is not clear as to the author of the book of Lamentations but, regardless of who wrote it, it appears to be someone who was in deep distress, particularly over the fact that Jerusalem was being destroyed by the Babylonians. Imagine having your country and people in ruin! It is a terrible loss and the person who wrote this book shares what is going on. The author was in deep distress, but was never hopeless. The author penned the words so beautifully, “The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness, His mercies begin afresh each morning.” That doesn’t sound like someone in terrible ruin. Even though the author was in the midst of ruin, they put their faith and hope in the Lord. This encourages my heart to know that when discouraging times come (and they do), there is always hope! It is hope that is certain and never wavers. God is in control of hard and discouraging times, and I know that I, too, can trust Him for the time and for the outcome. – Myrna Kopf   Council Fire is a collaboration with Intertribal Life Ministries and Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The Council Fire Daily Devotional Book Set is available on the Intertribal Life Ministries website. Learn more about Council Fire at councilfire365.org