LAMENTATIONS 3: 21-25
EVERY STEP OF THE WAY
[Philippians 4:10-13]
It was the first morning of the first grade. Little Johnny was having breakfast with his parents, talking about what would happen in the YEARS TO COME. "After the first grade, I'll be in the second, then the third, then..." Suddenly a look of panic, then resignation crossed his face. "Boy," he groaned, "I've sure got a long way to go!"
The year 2013 is ending. Soon the first of 365 pieces of 2014 will be here. All of them contain the unknown. Some of them hold joy; others will reveal pain. How will you maneuver successfully through a such a long, hidden trail?
Jeremiah points out in today's passage that God will be faithful to you every step of the way. Each day when you rise, God will already be taking care of you. His grace, strength and love will be as much a daily part of you life as is breathing. Whatever 2014 brings, your Heavenly Father will be right there with you to guide and sustaining you every step of the way.
I. A DESPERATE REALITY, 21.
II. A DECISION TO RELY, 22-23.
III. A DECLARATION OF RELIABILITY, 24-25.
Let's first look at what Jeremiah latched on to when his world was falling apart. Verse 21 is really the "hinge" on which the book, and Jeremiah's life turns. "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:" Unbelief causes us to look at our God through our troublesome circumstances. While Jeremiah's outward affliction and inward turmoil pushed him toward despair, Jeremiah forces himself to bring truth to the forefront of his mind. Like a computer that "defaults" to certain settings, each of us have a "despair default." If we don't reconfigure our minds, we will slide down the slippery slope of discouragement and complaint.
Here's how it works. If Jeremiah just focused on those things that were filling his mind (the things and circumstances around him), he was going to be bummed out. Look at verses 19 and 20. "I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me."
In order to break out of this pattern and cycle of despair, Jeremiah needed to be vigilant about what he allowed himself to think about. He needed to bring other things to mind ÈÎ He needed to call them up from his memory, from his hard drive and make himself think about what was true so in verse 21 he declares, "Yet this I call to mind..."
Friends, what Jeremiah did was something we need to do as well. We need to engage our will, and purposely and deliberately focus on things other than our problems. Force yourself to remember truth. Recall a verse. Remember a time when God demonstrated His grace and mercy to you. Push God's faithfulness to the front of your mind, even when you don't feel like doing it. When you do, God will begin to restore hope to your life by crowding out the hopelessness that threatens to shipwreck your life.
II. A DECISION TO RELY, 22-23.
The mood of despair was displaced by the beautiful affirmation of hope by what Jeremiah call to the forefront of his thoughts. Now, what did Jeremiah call to mind? What did he focus on while he was hurting? What did he lock onto when he was trapped by all the rubble in his life? Verses 22 and 23 contain four phrases that help displace despair with renewal.
The first blessed recall is found at the beginning of verse 22. "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed." Why doesn't God destroy us or consume us? He could and often should. He could because He is God and He should because we are sinners. If left alone our sins would consume us... if it were not for His lovingkindness or great love. We all walk closer to the edge than we think. There is a thin line between disaster and prosperity, joy and sorrow, laughter and tears, life and death
Why doesn't God destroy me? The basis for renewed hope is God's great love. The Hebrew word for "love" is hesed, a word rich with meaning. It has within it the idea of "loyal love," of a faithful love that will not let go because it does not depend on emotion but on an act of the will. God sticks by the people He has chosen. God loves us because He promised to love us and nothing can cause Him to break His promise. His covenant keeping love includes making true the promises that He has made to us who have entered into a father-child relationship with Him.
As bad as we often think things are, if it weren't for God, things would be much worse. That seems obvious, and perhaps it is, but we need to hear it again. If it weren't for God, and for God's love, no matter how bad things are in your life right now, they would be much worse without the Lord. Recall God's loving-kindness toward you often in 2014.
The second blessed remembrance concerns God's compassions or mercies. How do I know God will keep on loving me? The second half of verse 22 gives the answer to this question: "for His compassions never fail." I want you to notice that the word compassions is plural. That's very unusual in English ÈÎ in fact my grammar checker didn't like the word because it had an "s" on it. But, God's compassions are plural because His mercy is intense and limitless. It continuously comes rolling in, wave upon wave, from the very presence of God. The rivers of God's mercy flow constant and full, and never run dry.
The word compassion comes from the Hebrew word "womb" [reem, in the plural for intensity] and shows us the gentle feeling of concern and care that God has for us is like a mother has for her new-born. The word literally means, "to be moved in the heart out of love for another." God's compassion emanates from deep within Him and flows into our lives. He is moved in His heart when He thinks about you. Recall God's unfailing compassion toward you and let it move you also in 2014.
The third blessed remembrances helps define when God's great love and compassions reach out to me. Verse 23a gives a word of hope which should cause for each of us to latch onto the fresh love and compassions of God each morning. "They are new every morning." What if you woke up every morning to find your purse full of money, your car full of gas, your refrigerator full of food, and your youth and vitality fully restored? That's the way it is with God's compassions and mercies. They are renewed to us every morning and You can never use them up.
Do you remember the story of God providing MANNA for His people when they were in the wilderness? God sent it every day (except on the Sabbath). The people were instructed to gather as much as they wanted because it would never run out. However, they weren't allowed to store it (except on the day before the Sabbath). In order to drive home His point, God told them that if they tried to save it, the maggots would come and spoil the manna. They were to gather just enough for each day, eat it that day, and then gather more the next day. This is how God taught His people to trust Him day by day in the Lord to meet their daily needs.
God offers a fresh supply of loyal love and compassions to His covenant people every day. Much like the manna in the wilderness, this supply is there each new morning. This means at least two things: One is that we never have to live on yesterdays' blessings. They are "new" or fresh every morning.
I often catch the sunrise on my way to work. Have you noticed that no two mornings sunrises are alike? They vary greatly according to each new day. Likewise God's mercies are suited to the day He has set before us and to the need of our eternal soul.
Second, God's blessings are never early but they aren't late either. They are come to us with each new morning. Jeremiah found this true as his grieving heart was learning to live one day at a time.
Brothers and sisters, let's learn this difficult lesson ÈÎ God's mercies come day by day. We would much rather see the burden removed once and for all. Yet like Jeremiah, when we surrender to live for God day by day, we feel fresh breezes of love, grace, and compassions blowing across our soul. God's supply come when we need it - not earlier and not later. God gives us what we need for today. If we needed more, he would give us more. When we need something else, He will give us that as well. Nothing we truly need will ever be withheld from us. [Philippians 4:10-13.] So take hold of God's fresh lovingkindness and compassion each new day in 2014.
The last part of verse 23 teaches us what is our hope for living, even in the midst of chaos and suffering. "Great is Your faithfulness." Like the manna in the wilderness God's supply can not be exhausted. This truth caused Jeremiah to call out in praise, Great is Thy faithfulness. Jeremiah was rocked by the limitless supply of God's grace offered to him. Whatever hard things we go through, never doubt God's faithfulness. We are to recall and celebrate His great faithfulness every day! [The Hebrew word emuna is connected to the word amen, "so be it, steadfast."]
How refreshing, how wonderful, how encouraging it is to lift our eyes above the ruin of man and behold One who is faithful. For our Father is faithful in all things and faithful at all times. God can give us no greater hope and comfort than to teach us that He is totally reliable (Ex. 34:6-7).
God can be trusted. We often exalt God's love, power, and greatness but fail to rest in the assurance of His faithfulness. Regardless of the circumstances, we can be sure of the faithfulness of God.
Jeremiah, the writer of Lamentations, looked on his beloved Jerusalem and saw ashes and rubble. The Babylonian armies had destroyed and burned his favorite city, [Zion,] the city of God, They had taken it's inhabitants -the people of God- into captivity. It would have been easy to question the faithfulness of God, but Jeremiah looked to heaven and said, "Great is Thy faithfulness."
To say God is faithful is to say He is consistent in His character. God is holy. God is merciful. God is truth. God is love. What God does is always agreeable with what He is. God always acts consistent with His character, and His character doesn't change. Even when we cannot understand unpleasant events in our lives, we can trust God to love and help us. To say God is faithful is to say He is true to His Word. "For the Word of the Lord is right; and all His works are done in truth" (Ps. 33:4). What God promises, He will perform. Because God keeps His Word, we should claim His promises.
Hudson Taylor, whose heart longed to reach China for God, demonstrated extraordinary trust in God's faithfulness. In his journal he wrote: "Our heavenly Father is a very experienced One. He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning.. . . He sustained 3 million Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. We do not expect He will send 3 million missionaries to China; but if He did, He would have ample means to sustain them all. Depend on it. God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply." Recall and trust God's great faithfulness each new day of 2014.
III. A DECLARATION OF RELIABILITY, 24-25.
Jeremiah said, "Lord, even though I see devastation all around me, even though I feel heaviness within me, even though I deserve to be consumed and wiped out totally, You are faithful and merciful to me." Jeremiah therefore can reflect not only upon the mercy of God but upon the satisfaction He finds in God in verse 24. "The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I have hope in Him."
There is no greater hope than knowing that God is totally reliable. God has been and always will be - reliable.
In my decades of ministry I've talked to many people who indicate that they have not experienced God faithfulness. Occasionally the reason surfaced like -unconfessed sin, a vengeful spirit, pride, addictions, and the like. But when no sin was evident and the person submitted daily to Jesus as Lord, read the Bible, and prayed persistently, the best advice I could offer was, "Talk to God about your problem and keep doing what you are doing."
The Bible tells us of people who faced the same sort of problem. The prophet Jeremiah went through a time when God actually seemed like his enemy (Lam. 3: 1-18). In striking imagery he described his anguish over a God who "shuts out my prayer" (v.8). He felt as if God were hunting him down (vv. 10-12). But as he expressed his sorrow, Jeremiah saw a light that pierced the darkness and restored his hope in the Lord (vv. 21-26).
If God seems faraway from you, even though you are trusting Him and trying to do His will, don't despair. Talk to Him about it. Keep doing what you know is right. The light will break through. And when it does, you will be immeasurably better for it. [HVL. Our Daily Bread.] If you're in a tunnel of discouragement; keep walking toward the light.
[In verse 25-27 there is a threefold reference to goodness.] In verse 25 Jeremiah continues to speak words of great hope, hope being the absolute expectation of coming good. "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him."
Jeremiah called out in praise, "Great is Your faithfulness." He was taken back by the limitless supply of God's grace offered to him. Because of this, Jeremiah resolved to wait for God to act, bringing about restoration and blessing. He could trust God despite his circumstances because he now understood how inexhaustible was God's supply of loyal love and compassion.
Those who truly trust God do not complain or despair even when in things go wrong, maybe because of the society in which we live. Disobedience to God can cause great pain, but the doorway out of discouragement leads to the Lord, who "is good to those who wait for Him" (v.25). Our circumstances change and so do our feelings about them, but God is always good, loving, compassionate and faithful, that never changes. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8).
In CLOSING,
I read about a man who shouted the same three words each day from his street-corner newsstand. "Ain't it 'awful!" he would say to passers-by while extending a news paper. People bought a paper because they just had to know what terrible thing- had occurred.
Tragedy and dire predictions always make the front page, but if we become preoccupied with bad news, we will succumb to "awfulizing" - a pervasive pessimism that clouds every situation with gloom.
If anyone had a good reason for being despondent, it was the prophet Jeremiah. For 40 years, he declared God's Word to the rebellious and unrepentant nation of Judah. Jeremiah suffered because of their disobedience, but he clung to his faith in God's goodness. Even after witnessing the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of his people, Jeremiah wrote: "The LORD will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the LORD" (Lamentations 3:31-32,40).
We may be faint and weary, but our heavenly Father is all-powerful. Our feelings may fluctuate, but He is unchangeable. Even creation itself is a record of His steadfastness. That's why we can sing these words from the great classics hymn by Thomas Chisholm:
"Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above join with all nature in manifold witness to Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love."
Great is Thy faithfulness!... Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Notice that line, "All I have needed Thy hand hath provided." Have you experienced the truth of those words? I hope you are experiencing God's faithful provision right now. But its words are only words unless they are voiced from experience and faith.
What an encouragement to live for Him! Our strength for the present and hope for the future are not based on the stability of our own perseverance but on the fidelity of God. No matter what our need, we can count on the Father's faithfulness. Remember, he who abandons himself to God will never be abandoned by God.
Let's pray: Thank you for Your great love and compassion. Even in our moments of fear, even through our tears we can see that You are faithful. You've always been faithful to us. May we give You first place in the coming year that we might be more faithful to You. We praise and thank You for the many demonstrations of Your faithfulness. Help us to recall them to mind that we might have even greater hope in You during the coming year.
Invitation: "Great is Thy Faithfulness"
May you have a wonderful New Year!
