Lamentations 3:49

How do you move on after a tragic loss? When you feel you’ve lost the only good thing in life and you will never feel normal again? When you feel overcome by sadness and grief, you need to know there’s a God who understands and wants to comfort you. In this plan, you will learn that by choosing to focus on love, hope, and joy you can survive your grief.

Most likely written by the prophet Jeremiah, Lamentations is a collection of poems mourning the siege of Jerusalem and the coming exile of Judah. Despite the wickedness of God’s people that led to their captivity, the writer reminds his readers the loyal love and mercy of the Lord are truly new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). Even in deep darkness, God is our portion, our hope, and our salvation.

In difficult times, do you feel like God is silent? The book of Lamentations offers a language for times when you feel alone in sorrow. Lamentations invites you to pour out your most difficult emotions in prayer and to return to the God who loves you and is working all things together for good. In this five-day series, read through the book of Lamentations and consider God's steadfast love.

No joy compares with realizing that we are truly known and still truly loved. Yet many of us hide our real selves from our spouse because we fear being rejected in such an intimate relationship. In this week’s devotional, Ryan and Selena Frederick inspire and equip us to be transparent in our marriages so we can discover the richness of reflecting God’s unconditional love to one another.