Hovering over some shadow verses this morning. You know, those lesser-known passages immediately following those other passages we tend to remember, quote, and claim. Lesser known, lesser remembered, often lesser chewed on Scripture because the inspired word just before it so . . . well, inspiring!

Hovering over Lamentations 3. Immediately many of us think, “Oh, oh, oh! I know! His mercies are new every morning! Great is His faithfulness!” That’s the mighty oak in Lamentations 3, verses 22 and 23. It’s the great reversal bringing much needed revival after two-and-a-half chapters of lamenting the carnage and collateral damage of God’s judgment on an unfaithful people. It’s the “aha!” the prophet calls to mind which helps refuel within him hope (3:21).

But just after this great hymn is a lesser known chorus. In the shade of new mercies and great faithfulness is a passage that tells us what’s good, good, and good about being in the midst of what’s bad, terrible, and awful.

The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
to the person who seeks Him.
It is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the LORD.
It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is still young.

(Lamentations 3:25-27 CSB)

James says we should “consider it great joy” whenever we experience various kinds of trials (James 1:2). Maybe because James spent some time in the shade.

Consider it great joy because GOOD is Jehovah. Consider it great joy because GOOD is waiting quietly. Consider it great joy because GOOD is bearing the yoke of discipline.

There’s something about struggling in the desert which tends to revive the thirst for Living Water prioritizing it above all other thirsts. Something about waiting and seeking while you’re wandering and wondering that provides afresh an opportunity to taste and see that the LORD is good. Yes, and amen — the LORD is indeed good! Not just to those who wait, He is good period. But there is a unique depth of goodness revealed to those who wait on Him in the wilderness, to those who seek Him in their suffering.

It’s also good just to wait. When in a season or situation that you know you’re not going to be able to resolve or redeem on your own, there’s something enlivening to the soul that comes from being dependent wholly upon the Savior. Something pleasant which comes from experiencing your impotence, as experientially you know that His power is made perfect in our weakness (2Cor. 12:9).

And it’s even good to bear the yoke attached to the hard work of enduring patiently. To be trained in the time of trial. To be disciplined in the midst of what seems like only destruction. For in our suffering “God is dealing with you as sons”, leveraging hardship for our “benefit, so that we can share His holiness.” While the yoke seems painful at the time, later “it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:7, 10-11).

Good is the LORD. Good is waiting. Good is enduring.

Good because His mercies never end. They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. Oh, what blessed shade!

By His grace. For His glory.