We have reasons for hope. It is easy to forget that when we look at what happened in Afghanistan and Haiti this last week. But when I look to Scripture and history, I can find reasons for hope.

A text that renewed my hope this last week was Lamentations 3:21-26. This text reminds us that the Lord’s compassions never fail, that he is always faithful and that he is good to those who seek him. And all this is said in the midst of lamenting what we now call the Babylonian exile.

Jeremiah, the author of Lamentations, could write this because he knew his history. God had been repeatedly compassionate and faithful in Israel’s history. And God was indeed faithful in Jeremiah’s context because 70 years after the Lamentations 3 passage, the people would be freed from captivity and Jerusalem would be rebuilt. That is great history for us to remember, but it is also good to remember more recent history to have our hope renewed. For example, in 1979 there were only 800 believers from a Muslim background in Iran, and today there are around a million! Remembering all this assures me that the Lord will indeed work even Afghanistan and Haiti for good. We have reasons for hope, so let’s live it out.