*Caused to Return*
Cause us to return, O Lord, that we may return! (Lamentations 5:21, my translation)
*There is no hope for God’s people unless God causes them to return from their sliding and leaping into sin and unbelief.*
The book of Lamentations is the bleakest book in the Bible. God himself had decimated the apple of his eye: Jersualem.
The Lord gave full vent to his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations. (Lamentations 4:11)
He has killed all who were delightful in our eyes. (Lamentations 2:4)
The Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. (Lamentations 1:5)
So how does the book end?
It ends with the only hope there is:
Cause us to return, O Lord, that we may return! (Lamentations 5:21)
That is my only hope — and your only hope!
Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31–32).
Not if you return. But when you return. I have prayed for you! You will return. And when you do, it will be my sovereign grace that brought you back from the precipice of apostasy.
*Christian, this is true for you. This is your only hope of perseverance in faith. Glory in it.*
Christ Jesus is the one who . . . is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Romans 8:34)
He will cause us to return. Therefore, “to him who is able to keep you from stumbling . . . be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever” (Jude 1:24–25). Amen!