DAILY BREAD READING (Published Daily by Our Daily Bread Ministries)
AUGUST 10, 2026
READ: Lamentations 3 (Focus 19-26)
MEMORY VERSE
“The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.” Lamentations 3:25
BACKGROUND
Because of his father’s alcoholism and mistreatment of his mother, Pablo left home when he was a teenager. He moved in with an uncle, graduated high school, married, and had three children. But sadly, Pablo began repeating the same destructive behavior he’d once fled.
His own alcohol addiction and behavior began to tear his family apart. Soon, it was all gone—his marriage, family, job, and home. “My life was terrible, and it got worse,” he said.
Finally he turned to a treatment facility for help. “I was in bad shape, and God opened the door for me.” One day after praying, he experienced God through the beauty of nature.
Soon his youngest daughter noticed he’d changed, and reconciled with him. Today he’s working to rebuild trust with his other children.
In Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah grieved over the plight of his people, who had turned from God and were exiled to Babylon: “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall . . . and my soul is downcast within me” (Lamentations 3:19-20).
Like the Israelites, Pablo was far from God. And like Jeremiah, he found hope in God: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (vv. 22-23).
Like Pablo, the Israelites got a fresh start. We can turn to God and find hope.
Alyson Kieda
INSIGHT
In the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), books are usually named for the first word or words in the text. As such, the Hebrew title for Lamentations is “How,” taken from verse 1: “How deserted lies the city.”
Those who translated the Old Testament into Greek (the Septuagint) titled the book “Lamentations.” Both titles are apt. In many lament psalms, the psalmist’s cry is rooted in the phrase “How long, Lord?” (see Psalm 13:1).
And Jeremiah’s laments in both his prophecies and in the book of Lamentations are so consistent that he’s generally regarded as “the weeping prophet.”
In today’s text (Lamentations 3:19-26), he’s grieving over the city of Jerusalem, which was besieged and taken captive by the Babylonians. Now, seeing the city desolated, Jeremiah finds hope in the faithful God whose mercies are “new every morning” (v. 23).
Even in our times of deepest despair and loss, we can hope in God.
Bill Crowder
APPLICATION
Are you looking for hope? How is God inviting you to hope in Him?
PR’s (Pastor Richard) RE-EMPHASIS (From Today’s
Post)
“Even in our times of deepest despair and loss, we can hope in God.”
PR’s TAKE
“Why are you [a]cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance.” Psalm 42:5 nkjv
“God is not our last hope. He is our only hope” Anonymous
PRAYER
“Dear God, thank You for offering me a renewed relationship with You.”
TODAY’S HYMN/WORSHIP/PRAISE/GOSPEL SONG
“HOPE”
It’s a four letter word, small like a bee
Yet it somehow lingers for eternity
It’s like an angel sent to save you
Whenever life sucks and you’re feeling blue
And it sticks with you like super glue
Once it stays with you, it stays until the end
It’s like having an invisible best friend
That doesn’t hang out with you just for pretend
It gives you something to hold on to when in danger
And when your mind starts being a hater
Thinking, “that’s it, I’m dead and hopeless”
But hope gives you light and braveness
It shows you the light at the end of the tunnel
And gives you strength when you’re in trouble
(Hope in God)
