​

Whole Chapter Friend

​

​​

Had I lived in 586 B.C. I would have tried to befriend Jeremiah.  He is the kind of friend I want. Someone to ground me when life is good, someone who is real with me when life is hard.  He is the kind of friend I need when life falls apart, when the unthinkable happens, when the realities set in. I appreciate friends who quote Lamentations 3:21-22 to me, but what I appreciate more, is a friend who reads me the whole chapter.  Someone who is not afraid of Lamentations 3:17-18.   

 

My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD.”  Lamentations 3:17-18

 

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope; The steadfast love of theLORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end:  Lamentations 3:21-22

 

I appreciate a Lamentations 3 “whole chapter” friend, because with them I do not have to worry that sharing my pain and doubts will be a spoiler alert.  They already know that life can be hard. And while this kind of friend does not like pain, they have an idea of what to do with it. They do not feel compelled to lesson it, bury it, ignore it, move away from it.  They know that if you want to feel comfort, you have to be willing to feel the pain, and they think it worth the risk. Such a friend reads me Lamentations 3, the whole chapter. We do not skip past the part that talks about bitterness (3:5,15 or  the part where Jeremiah cries for help but his prayer was shut out (3:8). We own our part in Lamentations 3:42 where we have transgressed and rebelled, and we do not pretend to be anywhere but the depths of the pit (3:55) if that is where we happen to be.  We dwell on what speaks hope to us, even in the pit. God’s love which never ends (3:22), His promise He will not cast off forever (3:31), His desire that we not live in fear fear (3:57).

 

There are times I am not a whole chapter friend.  Times I am too wrapped up in myself to realize that I am saying the wrong things or not saying the right things.  There are times I could share less of myself and more of the Word, times I really ought to talk less and pray more.  I am grateful for the grace friends give me. I am thankful for the grace God gives me to extend to others when they gloss over my pain with a quote from the middle of a chapter.  I am grateful for the whole chapter friends I have that I do not deserve. I am grateful for Jesus, who is not just a whole chapter friend, a Whole Book friend for me. From Alpha to Omega, He has been, He is, and He is to come.

 

Overall, I am glad I am not living in 586 B.C.  I have the words of Jeremiah, and God is still in the business of making whole chapter friends.  Besides, in 586 B.C. running water did not come out of a faucet. I am grateful for the water that comes out of my tap, more so I am thankful for the Living Water which is always accessible to me.  Jesus has promised never to leave me or forsake me, He is not just a whole chapter friend, He is the friend who understands perfectly everything from the beginning to the end of the book. I am blessed, He is my friend.  And for the times I lose sight of this, I am blessed to have a whole chapter friend!

​

​