Do we remember times in life when we have been wrongly accused? These are moments of betrayal and abandonment. Jeremiah is one who can sympathize with us. He was put in the cistern by his enemies and was sinking in the mud. Ebed-melech, a court official, informed the king that the prophet was wrongly accused and must be pulled out into the mud before he dies of starvation. The King had Jeremiah drawn out of the cistern. To make sense of such a tragedy, we turn to the psalms.

The lament psalms takes up the largest category in the 150 chapters. Laments demonstrate an individual or communal complaint against God, begging that God acts. Then there is a shift in mood, God saves. After God saves, the individual or community sings praise to God. What does this teach us?

Faith and hope in God invites us to read the story of our lives backward. We look at our suffering in light of heaven. We remember that God holds our life in his hands, God will come to our aid, God is always the final reality.

The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that we have a great cloud of witnesses, the saints in heaven, who cheer us on through our trials.

Live life with your sight on Jesus. He will never let you go.