Lamentations 3 - Recalling God In The Midst of Storms of Life

Background - Lamentations

Good morning. If you don’t already know me, I’m Robb Stone, one of the Lay Elders here at King’s Cross Church. This morning we are going to look at Lamentations Chapter 3 and see how it can be instructive to us in how to handle the various storms we face in life.

The Book of Lamentations is a book of poetry, organized into 5 separate poems and although the author is unnamed, most scholars would point to the prophet Jeremiah as the author. The poems within Lamentations provide eyewitness testimony to the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., including destruction of Solomon’s Temple which had stood for over 400 years and including the exile of the people of Judah to Babylon When we read Lamentations, we gain both a visual and emotional picture of God’s judgment rendered after His warnings were not heeded by Judah, the destruction and suffering left in judgment’s wake; but also the infinite extent of God’s forgiveness and mercy, with God being the source of hope.

Lamentations 3

Specifically in Lamentations Chapter 3, we read a poem written in the first-person that acts as a personal confession by Jeremiah, and acts as a vivid and detailed depiction of suffering coming from God’s judgment laid down by a seige and destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army. Verses 1-20, are some of the most heart-breaking verses of the Old Testament depicting the mental, spiritual, and physical suffering being felt by the people of Judah due to their disobedience to their covenant with God.

Then there is a turning point in Jeremiah’s thinking and writing in verses 21-24, which serve as the key verses of the Book of Lamentations and will be our focus this morning.

Jeremiah writes:

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.”

Imagine Jeremiah writing focusing on the sin, suffering, destruction, he feels and sees all around him, but then his mind and eyes for a brief moment, he quits looking around and simply looks up and calls to mind God…calls to mind God and who He is and calls to mind God and what He has done. In that moment, light begins to drive out dark and hope replaces hopelessness. Jeremiah begins to find hope in God, as the people of Judah would, and we do today.

Storms of Life

Each of us experience stormy seasons in life. Some of you may be in the middle of one right now. It is important to understand how and why we might find ourself in a storm. For the sake of time we will consider two reasons.

Sometimes we find ourselves in a storm because we live in a sinful, fallen world. We simply live in a time post-Genesis 3. Disease, sickness, relational strife, tragedy, and death are all consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden. Our sinful nature may not be directly attributed to these storms, but rather the sinful nature of our world.

That isn’t always the case. Other times we find ourselves in a storm because of sin we have committed. One of the key theological concepts of Lamentations is that “Sin has Consequences.” It did with Adam and Eve, it did with the people of Judah, and it does with each of us.

Storms have their origin in sin, sometimes it is sins of a fallen world, sometimes it is sins of disobedience that we commit in rebellion of God. However, solution to the storms of life, also have the same source, clinging to, looking up to, seeking God.

Handling Storms - Call God to Mind

I think if we are honest, what we seek in the middle of a storm is hope. Often, the storms of life seem like there is no end, they seem like they are a permanent condition. Hope, even just the slight possibility, a glimmer, can buoy our spirit. Then how can we find hope in midst of life’s storms? Let’s return to the words of Jeremiah.

Call to Mind - God’s Unending Love and Mercy

Jeremiah first calls to mind, God’s steadfast love that never ceases and God’s mercies that never come to an end. Some translations use the word “compassion” instead of “mercy,” in Lamentations describing God’s attitude and action toward Judah. I think the correct work is “mercy.” Mercy is an action to relieve suffering, taken when the person suffering is underserving of that relief. Mercy happens when someone has the right and ability to bring down judgment, yet does not exercise that right, instead offering relief. Compassion, is simply a feeling and a desire to help someone, it does not consider, sin, judgment, and justice. By God still offering hope for the future for Judah is mercy, not simply compassion. God had the right and the ability to adjudicate Judah’s repeated rebellion in any way he saw fit, but chose to offer eventual relief from the destruction Judah’s sin brought on.

When we are in a storm, we would do well to copy Jeremiah and “Call to Mind” God’s love and mercy in our lives. It is through that remembrance and recollection that we will find hope. That change of perspective, changing our focus from our problem, our focus from our sin, our focus from our storm to the solution and hope for our problem, for our sin, for our storm, will provide the hope endure life’s difficulties. I enjoy bowhunting and one day I was getting ready for deer season and I discovered something about focus. You see, when I focused on my sight pin, the target blurred out…if I focused on the target, the sight pin blurred out. I believe it is the same with storms, sin, and God. When we focus on our sin and our storm, God is blurry, we can’t see Him or seek Him clearly. However, when we focus on God, our sin and our storm become blurry. We can’t focus on God and sin at the same time.

Daily Mercies

I am fascinated by Jeremiah’s words that God’s “mercies never end” and are “new each day.” As Christians we seem to be created with a recognition of what happens daily. In Genesis we see God’s creation of the heavens, earth, creatures, and mankind be done in a daily fashion. Jesus in Matthew 6:34 spoke about the importance of today and not worrying about tomorrow. Even secular advice seems to indicate there is something innate about the importance of today - we often hear “Take it One Day at a Time, “ or “Focus on the Present.” Even the phrase, “Tomorrow will be better,” or the “Sun will still rise tomorrow,” indicate an innate, natural, instinct in all of us as God’s creation that He is the sustainer, and that He will provide for today, and again tomorrow.

Personal Illustration

I have personally felt the steadfast, unending love of God and His mercies that never end and begin anew each morning. I had been a Christian for about 2 years and I was being actively discipled by a pastor at the church I attended. Two years into my walk with Christ, my mom who had been battling cancer for 8 years, was diagnosed with being terminal…the doctors had done all that they could.

I quit my job in Michigan and moved home to Iowa and cared for my mom for nine months until God called her home. Pastor Dave’s departing words to me were, “Focus on God, His mercies are good for one day, but can be renewed daily.” The reason Lamentations 3:22-23 are so important to me is because I lived those verses, and I saw and felt God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s Great Faithfulness. I cannot even come close to describing how good his faithfulness is.

You see, I’m not gifted with skills nor the temperament to be a nurse. It just isn’t in me. But God equipped me to do what He needed done. If my mom was going to have a problem or an accident, it was usually in the middle of the night, so I would stay up until 5:30-6:00 AM and then sleep until 11:00 and repeat this day 7 days a week. Almost every night, I would lay in my childhood bed, in my childhood house, and “Call to Mind” God and cry out to Him. Lord, I can’t do another day…I don’t have the strength. Most nights I cried myself to sleep. But God…But God…But Jesus…I would wake up at 11:00 with just enough fuel to make it through one more day…not enough for 2, not enough for a week, but one more day. God’s mercies were good for one day, but could be renewed daily, never ending, just as Pastor Dave had told me. My focus rarely wavered from God during those months, I kept calling him to mind, remembering Who he Was, What He Had Done…just as Jeremiah did so long ago.

Gospel Connection - Cross

It is important to note that Jeremiah lived on the other side of the cross from us. Jeremiah lived before God became flesh and dwelt among us in the form of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. For us on this side of the cross, we see God’s unending and infinite love and mercy displayed in sending His Son to earth in order to provide hope of salvation to each of us. Probably the most well-known verse of the Holy Bible speaks of this:

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

When we repent of our sins and place our faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, believing He is our Savior we receive God’s ultimate mercy, promising us that we will have eternal life in heaven with him.

Application - How To Tap Into God’s Love and Mercies

Repent of your sin.

Read his word and focus on him.

Pray

Surround yourself with people who take you to Jesus and encourage you to Call God to Mind.

Prayer