Lamentations 3:19-26
When All Hope is Lost
Life is hard at times. Your spouse is unfaithful. Your health takes a turn for the worst. A friend betrays you. Your grandchild goes down the wrong path. Your spouse dies. Sometimes our heart is breaking. We know we can’t do anything to change what is happening; we simply must accept the outcome. And sometimes, it feels like all hope is lost.
That must have been how the prophet Jeremiah felt, as he walked the streets of the capital city of Jerusalem. Everywhere he looked, he saw ruin and destruction. His king had been blinded, the king’s sons murdered. People slaughtered, or carried off to captivity. Even the Temple—the presence of God on earth—ransacked by the heathens. The situation for God’s people looked bleak.
Jeremiah chose his words carefully throughout this short little book of the Bible. He wrote in style as a poet. In most of the chapters, each line would start with a different letter of the alphabet. The middle chapter was special, though. In chapter 3, he put his lines in sets of three-- 22 sets of three lines each, with each set beginning with the same Hebrew alphabet character: 3 alephs, 3 bets, 3 gimels, etc.
And in this carefully constructed poem, Jeremiah found God in the storm. He captured the lament, the sense of overwhelming helplessness and hopelessness, what we might call the “dark night of the soul.” It’s that moment that you realize your life is falling apart, and all you can do is cry out to God. And in the storm, Jeremiah found a rainbow. Verse 21: “Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope...” When all seemed lost, he found hope in God.
Ever have a bad day? Most of us have. If you haven’t, yours is coming soon. You’re going to have a bad day. Your friend is going to have a bad day, and maybe you can offer encouragement. So consider these three things to remember, all on your outline...
When life seems to be falling apart, remember:
1. God loves you.
How simple, yet how rich if we fully appreciate it. But this message is hard to remember when we’re down for the count. When life is not going our way, we tend to blame God. We say, “Why me?” When life wasn’t going well for Jeremiah and his country, he chose instead to focus on the qualities of God’s love. Let’s read together verse 22:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
Some translations say “God’s mercies.” The word here for the Lord’s great love is “hesed” in the Hebrew, and here it is actually in plural! It refers to God’s many acts of lovingkindness and faithfulness and goodness to us. Jeremiah, in his darkest hour, chooses to focus on God’s goodness, God’s lovingkindness. It is no coincidence that Jeremiah has saved this verse for the middle of his book; it should be at the middle of our lives, this message of God’s unending love.
In the middle of a bad day, or a bad week, or a bad month, do you remember that God is loving and good? Or do you sometimes wonder where God is, what God is up to, why God has stayed silent, or whether you are even worth his love?
Yes, sometimes this is an act of the will, to focus on God’s great love when we don’t feel it. It takes a lot of faith. But God is unchanging. God loved you completely yesterday. God loves you completely today. And God will love you completely tomorrow. And yes, tomorrow will come. “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so!”
Remember that God loves you, and secondly, remember that...
2. God remains faithful.
Verse 23 reminds us of God’s acts of compassion. It says,
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
God’s acts of love are new every morning. It may have been a rough night, but God is there with the sunrise the next morning. He was faithful yesterday. And he will be faithful today, and forever. You can bank on God, who always keeps his promises.
Listen to these two beautiful psalms:
Psalm 30:5 “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning”
The psalmist realized that even when God’s anger is justified towards us, it is short, and greatly outweighed by his favor. Sometimes you might be responsible for the bad day you are having. God may discipline you. But his love will outshine all of that, as he seeks to draw you back into a healthy relationship with him.
Psalm 36:5 “Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.”
A beautiful description of the enormity of God’s love! God loves you and God remains faithful to you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. You are his, and he is yours. Someone once said, “You don’t know God is all you need until God is all you’ve got.” You learn more of God’s love and faithfulness in these times. And lastly, remember that...
3. God will save you.
No matter how bleak it looks, God will save you. Remember the Israelites, pinned down by the Red Sea, with the Egyptian Army in hot pursuit? Moses’ staff parted the waters. The Israelites walked across on dry ground! The Egyptian Army was drowned. God made a way when there was no way. God cared for his people. Listen to verse 24:
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
As I looked at this passage, I wondered, “What is a portion? And what does it mean for the Lord to be my portion? This saying dates back to the founding of the 12 tribes of Israel. The priests and Levites didn’t get a portion of the Promised Land like the other tribes. Rather, the Lord told them HE would be their portion (Numbers 18:20). When middle school PE is choosing up sides for dodge ball, and you’re the last one left standing, remember God is your portion! When everyone else seems to be blessed and you seem to be not blessed, remember: you may have nothing else, but you always have God. No one can take him away.
Because God is our portion, we can wait for him. God’s timing is not our timing. Rick Warren reminds us, “God doesn’t settle all his accounts in 30 days.” God will take care of us, but we need to wait for him. The next couple of verses describe this:
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
This waiting on the Lord is a good thing. God will save you, but you have to wait for it. Now what’s it mean to wait? Do we just sit on our hands, pray until we’re black and blue, and wait for something to happen? No, waiting on God can be very active. It may include searching the scriptures for comfort or guidance. It may include serving God in the last way you sensed, while at the same time watching for his future guidance.
Jesus knew about all hope being lost. Jesus knew about despair and even death. On the cross, as he carried the weight of all the sins of humanity, he shouted out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) Yet, Jesus also waited on the Lord. Jesus knew God would come through. Jesus knew the story’s not over until God says it’s over, that not even death can thwart the will of God. And out of death came resurrection, and our salvation.
Today we celebrate Jesus’ obedience on the cross, as we take the bread and the cup. We remember that he gave his body, his blood, to cover our sins forever, that we might have forgiveness and life everlasting. Let’s pray about this together:
Father, thank you for Jesus, who died to his own will so that he could obey your will. Thank you that, even when it felt hopeless, he never gave up, but surrendered completely to your plans. Help us to do the same. Help us never forget—even in our lowest moments of despair—that you love us, that you are faithful to us, and that you will save us. Help us to see ways to encourage others caught in despair. We ask in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
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For welcome time:
Sitting by the window of her convent, Sister Barbara opened a letter from home one evening. Inside the letter was a $100 bill her parents had sent.
Sister Barbara smiled at the gesture.
As she read the letter by the window, she noticed a shabbily dressed stranger leaning against the lamp post below.
Quickly, she wrote, “Don't despair. - Sister Barbara,” on a piece of paper, wrapped the $100 bill in it, got the man's attention and tossed it out the window to him.
The stranger picked it up, and with a puzzled expression and a tip of his hat, went off down the street.
The next day, Sister Barbara was told that a man was at her door, insisting on seeing her. She went down, and found the stranger waiting. Without a word, he handed her a huge wad of $100 bills.
“What's this?” she asked.
“That's the $8,000 you have coming Sister,” he replied. “Don't Despair paid 80-to-1.”
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Lamentations 3:19-26
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
