God’s Strange Work

God’s Strange Work

The other Sunday we were singing the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” and I was reflecting wryly that it’s a shame nobody realizes where its basic ideas come from, as is the case with the related chorus “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.” They come from Lamentations, which follows the book of Jeremiah, and the context adds depth to that declaration of faith, because Lamentations is a series of poems expressing people’s feelings and prayers after Jerusalem was destroyed, as Isaiah warns that it will be if people are not careful…