The Third Advent Candle

This Sunday the third candle on the advent wreath is lit.  Christmas is drawing closer - and so is the second coming of our Savior.

The history of salvation - past. current, and future - is essentially waiting and fulfillment.  Israel waiting for the first coming of the Messiah, and the comments of those who greeted the Christ child are full of prophetic fulfillment.  As Christians at this point in salvific history, we draw confidence from that fulfillment as we now wait for the second coming of the Messiah and the completion of God's salvation plan.  Advent is a microcosm of that waiting and hope.  Taking time to meditate on God's fulfillment of His promises can encourage our souls as we wait and hope on the Lord.

Lamentations 3:19-26

Remember my affliction and my wandering,
          the wormwood and bitterness.
Surely my soul remembers
         And is bowed down within me.
This I recall to my mind,
         Therefore I have hope.
The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
         For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
         Great is Your faithfulness.
"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
         "Therefore I have hope in Him."
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
         To the person who seeks Him.
It is good that he waits silently
         For the salvation of the LORD.

Comments

[Malebranche]

Lamentations 3:28-33

Let him sit alone in silence,
for the LORD has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.

31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.

[Brad B]

Ok Malebranche, here's the NASB version of your preferred version. BTW, maybe it'd be good if you'd let me know which version you are quoting here.

Lam 3:28 Let him sit alone and be silent Since He has laid it on him. Lam 3:29 Let him [fn] put his mouth in the dust, Perhaps there is hope. Lam 3:30 Let him give his cheek to [fn] the smiter, Let him be filled with reproach.

Lam 3:31 For the Lord will not reject forever,

Lam 3:32 For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness. Lam 3:33 For He does not afflict willingly Or grieve the sons of men.

Heres the same chapter later on with no change in context.

Lam 3:57 You drew near when I called on You; You said, "Do not fear!" Lam 3:58 O Lord, You have pleaded my soul's cause; You have redeemed my life. Lam 3:59 O LORD, You have seen my oppression; Judge my case. Lam 3:60 You have seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me. Lam 3:61 You have heard their reproach, O LORD, All their schemes against me. Lam 3:62 The lips of my assailants and their whispering Are against me all day long. Lam 3:63 Look on their sitting and their rising; I am their mocking song. Lam 3:64 You will recompense them, O LORD, According to the work of their hands. Lam 3:65 You will give them hardness of heart, Your curse will be on them. Lam 3:66 You will pursue them in anger and destroy them From under the heavens of the LORD!

In the early section Jerimiah is lamenting the disclipline of the Lord upon His beloved in their disobedience, in the latter verses, where the prophet is encouraged, by the judgement on the surrounding nations. This makes sense of the middle section quoted by Malebranche[but not in his attempt to make it say what it really doesn't]

A good companion to this might be the accounting of the king of Assyria who boastsed of his domination of Israel and the Lord says later "Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!" Read the whole of Is.10 for full accounting to see that it is God who is behind disclipline and restoration--with His beloved in mind as the object of His working. Not the whole world as Malebranche endlessly contends for.