Great Is Thy Faithfulness

One of my favorite hymns (which we just sang this past Sunday!) is the classic Great Is Thy Faithfulness. It’s a beautiful declaration of God’s goodness through every season and a reminder that we can trust His character. The song’s key phrases come from Lamentations 3:22-23: “…His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

What beautiful words of hope and confidence in God’s faithfulness! But what many might not realize is the context in which we find them. Before this declaration of praise, we find three chapters of lament from the prophet Jeremiah. Verse after verse expresses desperation and mourning, with phrases like “My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within” and “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.”

And then, in the middle of chapter 3, something shifts:

How much more powerful are these words when we understand the pain that precedes them? We sometimes paint biblical characters with a perfect brush, assuming they always got it right or always felt close to God. But Lamentations reminds us that even prophets experienced anguish, grief, and moments when hope felt far away.

Whatever you may be struggling with or waiting on God for, you are not alone. Those who came before us also cried out to God in pain—and, in the midst of that pain, found reason to trust Him. Like Jeremiah, we can declare, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”