ODJ: Blocked Love

December 22, 2016 

READ: Lamentations 3:22-57 

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease (v.22).

“Do you know what hurts so very much? It’s love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill that love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.”—Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place

Corrie ten Boom endured brutal treatment in a WWII concentration camp. Although her father and a sister died while imprisoned by the Nazis, Corrie’s love lived on, sustained by the God whose love “never ends” (Lamentations 3:22).

As the prophet Jeremiah surveyed the brutal treatmentinflicted on his people by Babylon, he felt the sting of his love being blocked (v.9): blocked from friends and family torn from his presence and placed in captivity (1:3); blocked from worshiping God in His temple, destroyed by the Babylonians (2:1,6); blocked from being able to assuage the pain of the starving, crushed remnant of Jerusalem (vv.11-12, 3:47-48).

Perhaps you’re facing the sting of blocked love. The loss of a relationship or a loved one or something you’ve poured your heart into can be devastating. Much like weeping Jeremiah, your pain may feel like it’s more than you can bear. Take heart, just ahead—a little further down the road—a new “route for [your] love to travel” may open up.

In the midst of the carnage and calamity, Jeremiah was able to claim: “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease” (3:22). The prophet could “hope” in God and call out to Him because of His faithful, merciful character and ways (vv.23-24,31,55-57).

Even blocked love can’t deter God’s everlasting love.

—Tom Felten

365-day plan: 1 Peter 2:1-25

MORE
Read Romans 8:38-39 and ponder what it means to know and experience the love of God. 
NEXT
How is a “blocked love” affecting you today? How can this difficult time lead you deeper into the love of God? What gives you hope for “another route for [your] love to travel”?