The famous hymn ‘Great is Thy faithfulness’ has its origin in this chapter (v22-23). A lovely song that speaks of the great mercies of the Lord which are new every morning. But when you look at the wider setting of those words in this verse, you see they uttered in the midst of great personal suffering that was endured by the writer.

The writer here is pictured as a suffering servant who has experienced affliction and wrath (v1), darkness (v2), the Lord’s hand (v3), a painful and wasting body (v4), being besieges and bitterness and tribulation (b5), darkness again (v6), imprisonment (v7), unanswered prayers (v8), obstacles (v9), bears and lions waiting and attacking (v10-11)….

It is in the midst of such a terrible experience that the writer goes on to cry ‘great is your faithfulness’ and that ‘The  steadfast love of the Lord never ceases’ (v22). How can the writer tie together his terribly bitter experiences and such confidence in God’s love and faithfulness? How can you and I?

There are different ways to answer that dilemma, but probably the best is to realise that what is described as the experience of the suffering servant here, was the very experience of God the Son who came into this world because He chose to suffer for the salvation of His people. Ultimately the way we get our head around the suffering we experience so that we can still trust in God, is to look to the cross and to see our God suffering there.