A Time for Lament

Intro

I have been troubled lately, You see I make the decision every week to look at some of the things going on in the world. and progressively every week things seem to get worse. From the decisions world leaders are making, to the acceptance of false teachings, to the falleness of those who hide in the shadows.

We live in a very discouraging time. When was the last time you thought to yourself, “I’m really glad that America is heading in the direction it’s heading”. I say America but you can switch out the word America with the World, with the state, even with the Church at large, and odds are your answer will remain.

Now you may say to yourself, what are we supposed to do? These things are so much bigger than us, we have no say. and in some ways you’re right, sure we could stand up and have a voice, but in today’s culture that voiced is “canceled” or stomped down. So I don’t blame anybody for feeling that speaking out is hopeless.

However there was a time and many in the Church has lost grasp of it, because of the effects of the prosperity gospel, and what I mean when I say the prosperity gospel is the teaching that everything is Good and God will never let anything bad happen to you and you will receive nothing but blessings and grace if you simply have faith.

Because of that our worship has been turned to praise and praise alone. And we should praise Him we should never stop praising him, but whatever happened to Lamenting. We don’t lament anymore, we ask God for things, “God can you please make sure I have food tomorrow, God please guide our leaders in their decisions, etc.”

But when was the last time you cried out to God in Lament? Now like I said lamenting isn’t popular anymore and we’re gonna talk about why, But because it’s not popular, most people don’t even know what lamenting looks like. Raise your hand if you have read lamentations within this past year? Who here has ever read lamentations.

It’s not a very popular book, but I’ll tell you I read through the book a few times this week which isn’t that impressive it’s only 5 chapters, but I found it to be one of the most insightful books of the Bible I've read all year.

So this is what I want us to do today, I want us to look at what it looks like to lament, I want us to talk about how to properly lament, I want to talk about our hope in lament, and I want to talk about the results of lamenting.

What does it look like to Lament

So Let’s open our Bibles to Lamentations and see how the people of Isreal Lamented.

Now to give you a little context on what was going on when this was written; The people of Isreal had been overtaken and crushed, Jerusalem has fallen, and the people have been scattered, Now keep in mind before the fall of Jerusalem they were like the great superpower of the world, no one would dare stand up to them because of their God, and their laws and ethics were efficient beyond any other nation. So naturally they were beyond prosperous.

So the people were living well, In fact in a lot of ways It’s a lot like how we have it in America, we are extremely well off, and even when you look at those who are homeless and poor, they are still better off than most people in a lot of countries. However Isreal this once great nation has turned away from God and so he fulfilled his promise that he spoke through Jeremiah, we read in Jeremiah 6:6-8

Jeremiah 6:6–8 ESV

6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: “Cut down her trees; cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her. 7 As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and destruction are heard within her; sickness and wounds are ever before me. 8 Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I turn from you in disgust, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.”

God is going to destroy them by the hand of their enemies and they will live in exile, and this exile is no vacation. As you read through Lamentations the people have been made into slaves, many are foreigners in other nations. Let’s read their Lament’s go to Lamentations 2:11-20 And we are only going to read parts…(Stared in Bible)

Lamentations 2:11–20 (ESV)

11 My eyes are spent with weeping;

my stomach churns;

my bile is poured out to the ground

because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,

because infants and babies faint

in the streets of the city.

12 They cry to their mothers,

“Where is bread and wine?”

as they faint like a wounded man

in the streets of the city,

as their life is poured out

on their mothers’ bosom.

13 What can I say for you, to what compare you,

O daughter of Jerusalem?

What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,

O virgin daughter of Zion?

For your ruin is vast as the sea;

who can heal you?

14 Your prophets have seen for you

false and deceptive visions;

they have not exposed your iniquity

to restore your fortunes,

but have seen for you oracles

that are false and misleading.

15 All who pass along the way

clap their hands at you;

they hiss and wag their heads

at the daughter of Jerusalem:

“Is this the city that was called

the perfection of beauty,

the joy of all the earth?”

16 All your enemies

rail against you;

they hiss, they gnash their teeth,

they cry: “We have swallowed her!

Ah, this is the day we longed for;

now we have it; we see it!”

17 The Lord has done what he purposed;

he has carried out his word,

which he commanded long ago;

he has thrown down without pity;

he has made the enemy rejoice over you

and exalted the might of your foes.

18 Their heart cried to the Lord.

O wall of the daughter of Zion,

let tears stream down like a torrent

day and night!

Give yourself no rest,

your eyes no respite!

19 “Arise, cry out in the night,

at the beginning of the night watches!

Pour out your heart like water

before the presence of the Lord!

Lift your hands to him

for the lives of your children,

who faint for hunger

at the head of every street.”

20 Look, O Lord, and see!

With whom have you dealt thus?

Should women eat the fruit of their womb,

the children of their tender care?

Should priest and prophet be killed

in the sanctuary of the Lord?

In verse 10 before this we see that the people are finally bowing down and realizing that they have wronged God, that they have turned away from him and they cry out in their anguish, talking about how their children are dying due to hunger, how those that they looked towards for truth lied to them and led them away from God, how they are in constant torment, Jeremiah even mentions that women were eating their children for nourishment.

These things aren’t all that unfamiliar to us; there was 930,160 babies aborted in 2020, our school teachers are being forced to teach lies, many churches have even turned from the truth and now teach affirmation over reproach. Are you seeing these things happening?

So I ask again where is our lament? How many worship songs do you know that lament? It’s time church, It’s time to cry out to God.

A Time to Lament

and I intentionally jumped over Lamentations 2:19, Let’s read that together.

Lamentations 2:19 ESV

19 “Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.”

What does it mean to pour out your heart like water before the Lord? If you were to fill a pitcher with water and pour it out how much water is left in the pitcher, with the exception of some residue, nothing is left. That’s a lot different than if you fill a pitcher with gravy or wine, I don’t know why gravy came to mind, but The Idea is that we completely empty ourselves to God in full submission.

That means we let go of our Pride, has anyone here ever played Uncle? I remember I would play Uncle with my Dad, and I would refuse to say Uncle even when the pressure was really on and I was hearting, because I wanted to prove that I was tough, But why do we do that same thing to God? We allow things to get as painful as possible before we cry out as if we are trying to prove ourselves to him.

Guess what when you play Uncle with God guess who loses. I’ll give you a hint, it’s not the king of the Universe. So we need to let go and say Uncle, say I can’t handle this lord I need you to take control of this situation before it get’s worse.

I’m going to be honest with you guys, There have been times that I have been on my hands and knees physically crying out to God because of the state I was in and because of the state the world was in.

And just like we see in Verse 11 Our stomachs churn when we see some of the things going on, It’s far too much to stomach. So we need to humble ourselves and poor out everything we’ve Got to God because it’s far more than we can bear.

We Need to find our hope in the Lord

and Here’s the really great part of all this, We have Hope in Jesus Christ! Let’s read Lamentations 3:21-25

Lamentations 3:21–25 ESV

21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” 25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

These things are temporary, we won’t deal with them forever. It is such a blessing to have something to put our faith in when times seem to be the hardest. When I fought depression in Middle School I was truly hopeless, I had no faith, no friends, nothing. I was ready for things to be over, But then I Truly met Jesus, I witnessed the acts of the Holy Spirit and it absolutely changed my life. and all the sudden I had this beacon that would shine light regardless of how dark it was, and how much brighter a flashlight shines in the darkness than in the light.

God does want the best for us, he wants to bless us and take care of us, but he can’t exactly do that if we are playing Uncle and we don’t give into him.

When we find our hope in God our lament is so much more meaningful. when we hopelessly Lament we are left feeling hopeless, But when we lament and remember that we are lamenting to the king of the Universe, that we are crying out to the God that gave us life, that’s something special.

And in these times of lament we need to remember Christ’s words in the sermon on the Mount, Let’s read Matthew 7:7-11

Matthew 7:7–11 ESV

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

God hears our voice when we cry out and he takes care of us. and so that’s why we remember him and keep our hope in him even in the hard times.

So let’s review. We are in desperate need of lament, We need to throw away our pride, and pour out our concerns to him, we need to remember that we have eternal hope in Jesus Christ.

Now when we lament we have to remember it’s not always about us, we are crying out for those who can’t do it on their own. We are crying out for the unborn babies, we are crying out for those in false churches who don’t realize they’re being falsely taught, we are crying out for our youth who are being misled in school, the place that they spend the majority of their time. Our lament’s really really matter.

In The End We Win

Now this certainly hasn’t been the most encouraging sermon, but I have some great news for you, In the end when all is said and done, we win. I find myself asking often, Lord when will you come and end this evil. Cause odds are I have a long time to yet before I die and the lord brings me home, But I pray that the Lord will come back soon and bring us all home. How great it would be if he came today, no more suffering, no more evil, no more darkness.

That’s what we have to look forward to, we lament in hope knowing that in the end we win. The Israelites lamented knowing that God promised them restoration.

I praise God because of the blessings He has placed in my life, but i lament for the fallen world we live in. I lament that there are those who disregard life and truth.

Let’s pray.