Never Cast Off

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 329, Never Cast Off.

Listen to these words from Lamentations 3, verses 31 and 32 — let them settle slow and heavy on your heart:

"For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love."

Jeremiah did not write this from a comfortable chair. He wrote it from the rubble of Jerusalem — the city burned to the ground, the people dragged into exile, the temple a pile of stones. And from inside that devastation, he lifts his voice and says: the Lord will not cast off forever.

I want you to hear that carefully. Because life has a way of arguing the opposite. When God's silence stretches too long, when the pain won't lift, when your prayers seem to stop at the ceiling — the heart starts drawing its own conclusions. That this time is different. That this time, maybe, God has finally turned away for good.

But Scripture will not let that lie stand. God's silence is never His final word.

Notice what Jeremiah does with the pain: he doesn't pretend it isn't there. He doesn't minimize it. He doesn't say "everything is fine" when it isn't. But he sets it inside a larger frame — inside the sovereignty of a God who can permit grief without being the enemy of your heart.

And then comes the turn of the verse — and it is stunning. "Though he cause grief, he will have compassion." The same God who permits the trial is the God who opens the hand of mercy. Not two different Gods. The same One. And that word "though" — that "though" changes everything. The grief is not the final scene. It is the road that runs straight through mercy.

And what kind of mercy? The text says: the abundance of His steadfast love. In Hebrew, that expression points to a greatness that overflows every human measure. You cannot exhaust the mercy of God. It doesn't matter how many times you've failed, how many times you've doubted, how many times you've walked away — His mercy is larger still.

And if you need one final proof, look at the cross. Jesus there — forsaken, suffering — and that was the moment God drew closest to humanity. When we were farthest away, He gave His own Son. That is Lamentations in flesh and bone. That is the measure of the mercy this verse is announcing.

So, my friend, today I'm asking you to do one thing. Before breakfast — before you step into the rush of the day — stop. Speak out loud one area of your life where you have been carrying the weight of grief. Don't hide it. Name it. And then declare, with your voice, with conviction: "Lord, I believe You have not cast me off forever." Speaking faith isn't pretending the pain isn't real — it's training your heart to trust what the Word has already secured.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.