Renewed

Key Elements

In Lamentations 3:21-25, the prophet Jeremiah grieves or laments over the destruction of Jerusalem and the state of God’s people, but in the midst of that grief, he finds hope in the goodness of God and gives Him praise that His mercy is new every day and that realization is found in seeking and waiting on Him.

Main Idea: Because the Lord’s steadfast love never ceases and His mercies are new every morning, we must allow God to intentionally renew our minds each day by recalling His faithfulness—choosing hope over despair and trust over fear.

I want my audience to experience the daily renewal God has for them by daily choosing to embrace the hope He offers and trusting Him with their day no matter what it brings.

Intro

LIFE IS HARD. I don’t have to tell you that. If you’ve been around long enough, it doesn’t take you long to realize that. Every morning we wake up to some kind of news, maybe personally in our own lives or maybe just events that are happening in our nation and our world, that reinforce that statement that LIFE IS HARD. In fact, it is so easy for us to wake up and automatically get sucked into that narrative. We roll over to cut off the alarm on our phones and there it is, that notification about an event that happened overnight or a text message that you missed while you were sleeping. We go to get our coffee and we open our email to find things pressing on us before we’ve even had a chance to hit start on the Keurig. We open social media and all of a sudden there is something on our feed that causes anxiety or frustration in us. And for the rest of the day our mood is set. For the rest of the day, we fight that frustration, and every little thing that people do around us just drives us crazy.

And what it can end up feeling like is that every morning we wake up and we don’t know what the news is going to be but we know that trouble is waiting. And what that can do for us, is it can cause us to live with a heaviness. It can cause us to drift towards negativity and the expectation that things will always be this way. And if we stay in that pattern of life, before long we get to the point where we are fighting depression and we are always anxious about what’s coming next. So, how do we keep from going down that road? How do we keep ourselves from drifting towards that mindset and that pattern of life? How do we find peace and joy and have hope when all around us what we see every day reinforces the fact that life is hard?

Well, I believe the answer lies in what we’ve been talking about for the last few weeks in our Mind Games series. That in the battlefield of our minds there is a war that is waging and we are caught in the middle. And the enemy, the devil, plays these mind games with us. And for us to win the battle of the mind, we have to pursue the transformed life God has called us to live, we have to take our thoughts captive every day. We have to break the patterns of distraction and offense in our lives, spending time with God daily and not allowing anger and offense to linger in our hearts and our lives. And when we do that, we begin to be molded into the image of Jesus in the way we think and the way we live.

And today, as we conclude this series, we want to do so by focusing in on what we are calling God’s daily renewal in our lives. Like we’ve said before, God’s transformation of our lives is a daily process. And it’s a process that comes with a lot of intentional choices on our part. In fact, daily we have to intentionally choose Jesus. We have to daily intentionally choose to focus our hearts and minds on Jesus. Because everyday brings with it it’s own battles. Everyday we wake up and the mind games are there. And to win that battle means experiencing God’s daily renewal in our lives.

So, with that at the forefront of our minds, here’s our main idea that we are focusing in on today: Because the Lord’s steadfast love never ceases and His mercies are new every morning, we must allow God to intentionally renew our minds each day by recalling His faithfulness—choosing hope over despair and trust over fear.

And here’s my prayer for us today, that we will experience the daily renewal God has for us by daily choosing to embrace the hope He offers and trusting Him with our day no matter what it brings.

Message

Today, we are turning our attention to the Book of Lamentations. Open your copy of God’s Word with me to Lamentations 3:21-25. Now, I’ll admit this morning, Lamentations is not one of those books of the Bible that I’ve gone to frequently in my life. And I would say maybe the same is true for you as well. Maybe you have studied the book of Lamentations a lot. But for me, it’s one of the books of the Bible that I’ve probably only read as a part of a reading plan. But it’s an interesting book. It’s written by the prophet Jeremiah and it’s a book of lament. It’s really a depressingly beautiful book to read. Before we dive into our text this morning, let’s get a little bit of context: The Book of Lamentations is written in the aftermath of one of the darkest seasons in Israel’s history-the fall of Jerusalem in 586BC. The Babylonian army has destroyed the city, burned the temple, torn down the city walls, and carried many of God’s people into exile. What once symbolized God’s presence now lies in ruins. And Lamentations is the recording for us of what happened after the disaster. The battle is over, but the pain is still there. The people are left standing in the rubble, trying to make sense of the loss, suffering, and the consequences of sin and God’s judgement. And Lamentations is what the prophet sees and feels as he is walking the city. His heart is broken for the people of God, his people. And overwhelmed by all of this, he hikes up to this cave that overlooks Jerusalem and he wants to pray but he doesn’t quite know what to say. And so his cry to God is the book of Lamentations as he tries to make sense of all that has taken place. The book is made up of five poetic laments-which are songs of grief meant to give God’s people words of expression when sorrow feels overwhelming. And right in the middle of the book, we find chapter 3. It’s really a turning point for Jeremiah. In the midst of deep pain and sorrow, Jeremiah experiences the renewal of God in his life. Look at what he says in Lamentations 3:21-25,...

So, how do we experience God’s daily renewal in our lives?

In our text today in Lamentations 3, the prophet Jeremiah shows us three ways we can experience God’s renewal in our lives daily.

1. God’s renewal in us begins with an intentional shift in our minds. (vs. 21)

So, as we continue talking about God renewing our minds, I want to specifically focus on us allowing Him to do that at a certain time of day. I want us to focus in for a moment on beginning our mornings with God. Now, I know that some of us are not morning people. Believe me, I understand completely. I’m not a morning person. I like to stay up late and I struggle with getting up early. I’m doing better the older I get but it’s not who I am naturally. Now, if you say “hey, let’s go get breakfast in the morning,” then I have no problem getting up early. But not naturally a morning person. So, I know that that is how some of us are. I mean, some of us, our Christianity doesn’t kick in til after lunch. We wouldn’t admit that out loud but that’s kind of the way we think.

It’s not really about a certain time in the morning, it’s more about the fact that what we think about when we first wake up has a way of determining what we think about the rest of the day. And that can happen pretty quickly in the morning. We wake up and before our feet hit the floor, we’re already thinking about what we dealt with yesterday. The thoughts come rushing in, the challenges that lay ahead of us begin to flood our minds. And before long we’re overwhelmed before the day has begun.

And this is the reality that we see in the life of Jeremiah when he wrote the book of Lamentations. If we read the verses that come before our text today, we find a man overwhelmed with despair. He calls God his enemy, he talks about his flesh and skin being worn away, he says he is dwelling in darkness, his teeth are broken on gravel, his soul has no peace. But then vs. 21 happens and everything shifts. Look at what he says, “Yet I call this to mind,...” He makes an intentional decision to redirect his mind towards God’s truth. And from that intentional decision comes a shift from which everything else flows.

And for God’s renewal to begin in us, daily we have to make an intentional decision to shift our minds toward Him. To begin our day thinking about God and the things of God so the trajectory of our day is set and, no matter what comes our way, it is filtered through the lens of our relationship with God. And for this to happen...

a. We must make the intentional decision to remind ourselves of God’s truth.

I love the way one pastor puts it for us, “Renewal daily doesn’t begin with changed feelings, it begins with a changed focus.”

Jeremiah is playing off of everything he has said in the twenty verses leading up to this statement. He says “this is how I feel, this is what the circumstances and the reality of my life is, yet I call this to mind.” And the key lies in that word “call.” It’s active, not passive. It’s a decision, it’s a choice, it’s a pursuit. Jeremiah is not wallowing in his circumstances, but he is actively reaching for hope and that hope is found in reminding himself of God’s truth.

And that’s exactly what we have to do. I love what Pastor Kyle Idleman says about this and we’ve said this in this series at some point, “If we don’t take our thoughts captive, our thoughts will take us captive.” And that’s so true. Because we naturally don’t drift toward God’s truth in our minds. We naturally allow ourselves to get overwhelmed with the reality of life. Left to ourselves and in our own strength, our minds will choose to rehearse our problems and our failures and our fears. For us to experience God’s daily renewal in our lives, we must begin each day by making the intentional choice to remind ourselves of God’s truth.

And here’s what happens when we do,...

b. Reminding ourselves daily of God’s truth brings hope.

I love the sequence here. Notice the order of things-he says “yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope.” Jeremiah makes the intentional choice to focus on the truth of God and the result is hope. Hope doesn’t come first, the decision to remember comes first, and hope is the fruit of that decision. Because reminding ourselves daily of God’s truth brings hope.

You see, for us as human beings, we are usually directed and guided by how we feel. When we feel hopeful and confident, we then pursue God. When we feel like praying, then we pray. When we feel like worshipping, then we worship. When we feel like trusting someone, then we trust. But what Jeremiah shows us is that hope isn’t a feeling that we conjure up, hope is the response that comes from focusing on God’s character and God’s faithfulness. And when we begin our day, everyday, by making the intentional decision to remind ourselves of God’s truth, doing that brings hope and sets us on a trajectory to cling to that hope no matter what the day brings.

God’s renewal in us begins with an intentional shift in our minds.

Next, we notice...

2. God’s renewal in us is sustained as we remember His unchanging character. (vs. 22-24)

So, what is it that Jeremiah calls to mind? What is he talking about that produces this hope in him? It is the unchanging character of God. Look at vs. 22-24…

You see, circumstances change. But God’s character is unchanging. It is constant. Jeremiah’s circumstances are bleak at best. He looks around and there is nothing but destruction in every direction. His people, God’s people are rummaging through the rubble and eating the garbage that is left. It’s as desolate a situation as it can possibly get. And yet, in the midst of all of this, Jeremiah shifts his focus from the changing circumstances around him to the only thing that never changes and that is the character of His God. His hope is not anchored in what the circumstances are but in who God is and has always been.

And that’s where our hope is anchored as well. God’s daily renewal in us is sustained not by keeping our eyes on our circumstances but by daily remembering His unchanging character in our lives. Our hope in this life finds its source in the unchanging character of our God. And in a world where everything is constantly changing. Where there is really nothing or no one we can look to to be constant in our lives. Isn’t it good to know that God never changes? He is constant. He is faithful. And resting in that is a sustaining force for us in our lives. It brings a fresh confidence for us everyday that no matter what is going on around us, if we know Jesus as our Savior and Lord, this one who lives inside of us never changes.

And remembering God’s unchanging character and calling that to mind daily reminds us that...

a. God’s faithful love outlasts our darkest seasons. (vs. 22)

Jeremiah remembers first that “God is faithful in His love for us.” That word “faithful” is the Hebrew word meaning “loyal, covenant faithfulness, and unfailing devotion.” It’s one of the most precious words in the OT. It’s the kind of love that doesn’t quit when things get difficult. It’s covenant love that is bound by a promise that says “I’ll never leave you or forsake you.” Jeremiah looks around and Jerusalem is in ruins, the temple representing the presence of God to the people of Israel is leveled, most of the Israelites are in exile, and yet, Jeremiah proclaims that “because of the Lord’s faithful love, they will not perish.”

And this is the same love that pursued us before we knew Him, that sent Jesus to the cross for all of us, that hold us when we fall, and that won’t let us go when we try to run away. You see, our darkest seasons of life do not stop God’s faithful love for us, our worst failures won’t cancel God’s faithful love for us, and our deepest doubts do not diminish God’s faithful love for us. This is what daily renewal looks like for us, that even in the darkest seasons of our lives, God refuses to let us go. God’s faithful love outlasts our darkest seasons, and...

b. God’s unending mercy meets our daily struggles. (vs. 23)

Jeremiah remembers second that “God’s mercies never end.” He says in vs. 22-23, “for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” You could really stop there and just sit in that truth for a moment. The mercies of God on our lives never runs out, we are never going to get to the point where we don’t find mercy from God, they are infinite. The word for “mercy” here is the Hebrew word that has the basic meaning of “loyalty or devotion, that is found in relationship to a covenant and God is the author of that covenant.” God is devoted to us, He is loyal to us and loyalty and devotion, that covenant relationship we enter into with God when we surrender our hearts and lives to Him, will never end. Because it’s a covenant sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ His Son our Savior.

And not only that, “they are new every morning.” Jeremiah, remembering the unchanging character of God, is awakened to the truth that he is not in his current reality forever. The dark night of despair reminds him that light is on the horizon for the people of God. Just like the sun rises every morning with new light, God’s mercies come, new and fresh every morning, to meet the struggles of the day. And this is what we have to remember every morning. This is the truth that needs to be at the forefront of our minds every day.

One commentator puts it this way, “Those who do not wait do not see the mercy because new mercies come but not until the morning. “Despair” means awakening in the dark and assuming it’s reality. Dark, for a believer, is pre-reality. Reality is coming. The Friday night before the Sunday. The disorientation before the reorientation. Therefore, if you give up before the sun rises, you miss the light of God’s mercy. It comes in the morning.” (Steven Smith, Exalting Jesus in Jeremiah, Lamentations)

God’s mercy is there daily to meet whatever the day brings our way. That word “new” means “of a different kind.” Every day God will show us a new way He is working, but we need Him to help us see it. It’s us trusting every morning that whatever comes our way today, God’s mercy will meet us there.

God’s unending mercy meets our daily struggles, and...

c. God’s unfailing sufficiency provides the certainty of His presence and provision. (vs. 24)

Jeremiah remembers third that “God is enough for him.” He says in vs. 24, “The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in Him.”

The great theologian Charles Spurgeon says this about Jeremiah in that moment, “With his mouth full of gravel stones and overwhelmed with sorrow, yet Jeremiah says, “The LORD is my portion.” Whatever else we have lost, we have not lost our God.” (Charles Spurgeon, The Spurgeon Study Bible: Notes)

And the key in that verse is the word “portion.” It literally means “a tract of land or an inheritance.” So, when the nation of Israel conquered the Promised Land, the land of Canaan, the land was divided into portions. And every tribe of Israel received a portion of land as an inheritance except for the tribe of Levi which were the priests. They didn’t receive any land, God tells them in Numbers 18:20, “I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.” Instead of land, God gives them Himself. And in this moment, Jeremiah remembers that God is enough for him. He recalls that in the past, God has never left him and He would not start now and that, in God, His people would find the unfailing sufficiency of their Heavenly Father and the certainty of His presence and His provision. Jeremiah, in the midst of losing everything, says, “The Lord is my portion.” He’s saying that God Himself is his inheritance, God Himself is his reward, God Himself is his possession, and if he has God, he has everything he needs.

You see, God’s renewal is sustained in us when we start looking to Him as our sufficient source. Because it is only in Him that we find certainty and assurance of presence and provision. It is only in Him that we find, without any doubt, that we are never forsaken and we always have what we need. Even when it may seem like we don’t because everything around us speaks to the opposite being true, we don’t look to what are circumstances are saying, no, we look to the unfailing character of our faithful and sufficient God. When God is our portion, His presence becomes our certainty and His provision becomes our confidence.

God’s renewal is sustained as we remember His unchanging character. And,...

3. God’s renewal in us grows as we trust Him and wait patiently. (vs. 25)

And we like to think the opposite is true. We like to think that God’s renewal in us grows when He moves quickly and immediately and He answers our prayers on our timeline. But rarely is that true. God doesn’t work on our timeline. Thank goodness. He works on His. He sees the big picture when we can only see what’s right in front of us. And so we have to trust Him and we have to wait patiently as He works for His glory and our good. And we love to do that don’t we? We just love to wait patiently. No, but when we trust God and wait patiently on Him, He does His best work. Look at how Jeremiah expresses this in vs. 25...

And this is Jeremiah’s declaration based on who he knows God to be, based on everything he has just proclaimed about God in the previous three verses. He sums it up in one phrase, “The Lord is good.” This word “good” when spoken about humans means “pleasant, agreeable;” but when spoken of God it takes on a slightly different meaning. When used to describe God it means “ethical, always what is right.” God will always do what is right because He’s God. That’s who He is. And He loves us, so even though our seeking of Him might come out of the most difficult times in our lives, we will always find Him to be good and to do what is right for us. So, we can always trust God.

You see,...

a. Despair is always available and often louder. (vs. 25a)

In the morning, when we first wake up, despair is always the first option that is going to be screaming at us. That option never goes away. It’s the option that is always screaming loudest at us and it was the option that was screaming loudest at Jeremiah. And he had listened up to this point. But then he chooses something different. He chooses God. You see, even after Jeremiah had called truth to mind, even after he had remembers God’s unchanging character, and declared God was enough, he has one more choice to make-to trust God and wait on Him. Jeremiah could have stopped at vs. 24. He could have said “God is enough for me,” and that been the end of it; but he goes one step further. Instead of listening to the screaming voice of despair, he shows us that...

b. Renewal is found through intentional seeking and patiently waiting. (vs. 25b)

He proclaims in vs. 25,...

He makes the intentional choice to resist the pull towards despair and to seek after the hope that is only found in the Lord. And if we want to experience God’s daily renewal in our hearts and minds and we want that to grow stronger and stronger, then we have to do the same as well. Daily, we have to choose over and over to seek after God and wait patiently on Him. And it’s going to be a battle, it’s going to be a fight, but it is one we will win not in our own strength but because God’s renewal in us is growing daily as we make that choice. As we actively seek after God, making space for Him to work in our lives; and as we wait patiently on Him trusting in Him and His timing in our lives, God renews us daily. We shouldn’t be in a hurry, but we should wait patiently on our faithful God finding renewal in Him.

So, here’s what this might look like for us practically: the first morning we choose to call God’s truth to mind instead of despair, it’s difficult. The first time we choose to wait on God instead of panicking and taking control, it’s uncomfortable. But as we keep choosing to do it over and over again, day after day, God’s renewal in us grows. Hope increases and trust in God deepens. And one day, we realize that the despair that used to control us doesn't have the same hold on us anymore. Not because our circumstances have changed, but because God has changed us. Our minds have been renewed because we have learned to seek after God and wait on Him.

Closing

Questions to consider: (from Taking Every Thought Captive by Kyle Idleman)

1. What voices have access to your mind first thing in the morning?

2. What is the biggest obstacle keeping you from establishing a meaningful morning routine with God?

3. Where could we create space in your home and life for time with God?

Life is hard. This is true. But in the midst of the difficult things that life will bring, we can experience God’s daily renewal in our lives. As we choose to make an intentional shift in our minds daily towards God, as we remember His unchanging character, and as we trust in Him and wait on Him.

This morning, God has reminded us that daily renewal is possible through Him. Some of us walked in today carrying heaviness, fear, or quiet discouragement. And the invitation of Jesus is not, “Fix yourself,” but “Remember who God is.” Tomorrow morning, when you wake up and the weight starts to settle in, you have a choice to make. You can let despair write the narrative. Or you can do what Jeremiah did. You can call to mind that God’s steadfast love has not run out. His mercy is new every morning. His faithfulness is still great. As we move into a time of worship and commitment, we want to invite you to respond and be obedient to whatever step God is calling you to take. That may be surrendering your heart and life to Jesus for the very first time. Right where you’re sitting asking Him to save you and forgive you and use you. That may be coming to the altar to pray for renewal in your heart and life. Whatever step you need to take today, our prayer for us is obedience.