For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
This verse comes from a book called Lamentations — which tells you something before you even read a word of it. It's not a book of easy answers. It's someone sitting in real grief, refusing to pretend things are fine, and still landing here: God will not cast off forever.
That word "though" is doing a lot of work. "Though he cause grief, he will have compassion." This isn't denying that suffering happens or that God is somehow absent from it. It's holding both things at once — the pain is real, and it isn't the end of the story. Compassion doesn't erase the grief; it outlasts it.
If you've ever suspected that faith requires pretending your hard seasons don't count, this verse says otherwise. It was written by someone in the middle of a genuinely terrible time, and it's still one of the most quoted lines about hope in the whole Bible.
If you've been carrying real grief and wondering whether faith has any honest room for it, this verse suggests it might have more room than you think.
A short video on this is coming soon — for now, read on.