John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 3:57

"Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou saidst, Fear not." — Lamentations 3:57 (ASV)

Here the Prophet tells us that he had experienced the goodness of God, because he had not been rejected when he prayed. This doctrine is especially useful to us: to call to mind that we had not prayed in vain in the past. For from this we may feel assured that, as God always remains the same, he will always be ready to help us whenever we implore his protection.

This, then, is the reason why the Prophet declares here that he had experienced God's readiness to hear prayer: Thou didst come nigh, he says, in the day when I called on thee; thou didst say, Fear not. This approach, or coming near, refers to what was real or actually done: that God had stretched forth his hand and helped his servants.

Since, then, they had been confirmed by such evidences, they had the privilege of always fleeing to God. God, indeed, supplies us with reasons for hope when he time and again aids us; and it is as if he testified that he will always be the same as we have time and again found him to be.

He then adds an explanation, Thou didst say, Fear not. He does not mean that God had spoken; but, as I have said, he thus shows the fact that he had not sought God in vain, for God had brought him relief. Though God may not speak, yet when we find that our prayers are heard by him, it is as if he raised us up and removed from us every fear. The sum of what is said is that God had been propitious to his servants whenever they cried to him.