For my first two years in college, I attended the University of Maryland’s campus in Munich, Germany. One weekend, I went on a kind of field trip to the nearby concentration camp known as Dachau.

That camp was liberated from the Nazis in April 1945 but many of the original buildings, ovens and grounds were still the same when I visited in 1969. It was life changing to stand there and consider the preponderance of evil that occurred on those grounds.

But there are other stories that came out of that place. One of my favorites is told about the first wave of GIs who helped liberate those starving prisoners. It seems that the first day, they came in with bread and other food supplies, helped with immediate medical needs and then had to go back to their own military camps.

When the American soldiers returned the next day, many of the prisoners still had hunks of bread in their hands. They did not eat it. They were saving it, fearful that there would be no more bread. Heartbroken, the message from those young GIs was, “Please eat. We will feed you again tomorrow.”

That expression, “we will feed you again tomorrow”, carried so much hope to those prisoners. It allowed them to rest in the truth of a future blessing. They didn’t need to hoard or save crumbs in their pockets. There would be more to come.

That thought is also conveyed in our scriptures. Consider the words of Lamentations 3:22-23: “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.”

Those words were penned during a dark period of Israel’s history. The city of Jerusalem was under siege and about to be destroyed. The book of Lamentations is a kind of funeral dirge. But in the midst that abject sadness, the prophet, Jeremiah wanted the children of God to be encouraged.

He reminded them (and us) of Yahweh’s tender mercies and the reality of His deep, abiding love, regardless of our circumstances. Jeremiah expressed the practical thought that the Lord’s compassions would not run out on Israel. And they don’t run out on us either.

This week, you might be in a difficult season. You may be experiencing some of the most difficult days of your life. But don’t lose hope. God is present, listening, and will not leave your side. He is not ignoring the need. Lean into Him.

On the authority of God’s Word, I promise…. He will feed us all again tomorrow.