Hope for the Despairing Soul
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Intro:: One of my all-time favorite movies is “O Brother Where Art Thou.” You don’t even have to have seen the movie to be familiar with its signature song, “Man of Constant Sorrow.” (READ LYRICS):
I'm a man of constant sorrow
I've seen trouble all my days
I'll say, goodbye to Colorado
Where I was born and partly raised
Through this open world I'm bound to ramble
Through ice and snows, sleet and rain
I'm bound to ride that mornin' railroad
Perhaps I'll die on that train
Although Ulysses Everett McGill claims to be a man of constant sorrow, the OT prophet, Jeremiah, could rightfully make that claim more so. Situation in Judah à takes place after the fall of Judah/Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 and before the restoration in 538.
I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of his wrath;
he has driven and brought me
into darkness without any light;
surely against me he turns his hand
again and again the whole day long.
He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;
he has broken my bones;
he has besieged and enveloped me
with bitterness and tribulation;
he has made me dwell in darkness
like the dead of long ago.
He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
he has made my chains heavy;
though I call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;
he has made my paths crooked.
He is a bear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;
he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces;
he has made me desolate;
he bent his bow and set me
as a target for his arrow.
He drove into my kidneys
the arrows of his quiver;
I have become the laughingstock of all peoples,
the object of their taunts all day long.
He has filled me with bitterness;
he has sated me with wormwood.
He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and made me cower in ashes;
my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is;
so I say, “My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the Lord.”
Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
READ TEXT à 3:1-20
Three verses paint the very vivid picture: 1:1, 8-11; 2:20-22; 4:4-5, 8-10 - carnage, suffering, starvation, cannibalism, death everywhere, dead bodies everywhere – infants, toddlers, young, old.
4:11 is HUGE
he poured out his hot anger,
The Lord gave full vent to his wrath;
he poured out his hot anger,
and he kindled a fire in Zion
that consumed its foundations.
and he kindled a fire in Zion
that consumed its foundations.
It’s all because of sin. They had turned their backs on God – broken their covenant with Him.
Ch. 3 of Lamentations is 1st person. It is written from the perspective of the pastor of Judah – Jeremiah. He moves from mourning/anguish over the sin of the nation & its consequences to now his own personal sin. NOT EVEN PASTORS ARE EXEMPT. For those of you who were here last year, you’ll remember we walked through on the deep anguish of the soul – spiritual depression. There are seasons of our lives when our souls sink into the depths of despair because of the sin in our lives.
We’ve blown it…We have fallen into sin – maybe a pattern/lifestyle of habitual sin. Maybe we’ve blown it publicly – maybe privately – sins no one sees/knows about. Maybe it is a secret addiction to pornography, maybe you’ve been unfaithful to your spouse, cheated & lied at your job, an addiction. As pastors, I’ve counseled with people who are living in the depths of despair over the guilt of their sin….MAYBE OURSELVES. “I’ve blown it too bad. I feel cut off from God, I can’t hear from Him, it’s almost like God is so angry, so disappointed with me. He’s done with me for right now.”
As fallen creatures ourselves, perhaps we’ve tried to navigate through these waters of despair personally. This was Jeremiah. He lived in this strange paradox that we often find ourselves in, too.
Do you hear the anguish of Jeremiah? He is experiencing this paradox of both the abandonment of God and the wrathful pursuit of God. In other words, Heaven is silent yet heaven’s Hunter is bearing down on him…look again – 3:7-8, 10-13 – the discipline is unbearable.
He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
he has made my chains heavy;
though I call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
He is a bear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;
he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces;
he has made me desolate;
he bent his bow and set me
as a target for his arrow.
He drove into my kidneys
the arrows of his quiver;
Have you ever felt like this? Let’s not skirt around the truth…you’re guilty, you’ve sinned, you’ve blown it, and heaven is both violent and silent.
One of the worst feelings we can experience – I believe – in human relationships is when we hurt a good/intimate friend & what do they do? SILENT TREATMENT. We laugh, but I think we laugh to gloss over the pain it causes. You know you’ve wronged/hurt them & you want to apologize & make things right but they won’t answer the phone. Your mind races with doubt, doesn’t it? “I have permanently ruined our relationship. Things will never be the same. They are done with me…cast me off.” What anguish! It makes you literally sick to your stomach, doesn’t it? VERSE 4…The anguish is relentless. The fallout from our sin…the discipline is relentless.
How much more is the pain/anguish/despair when it’s God? Guilt compounds – vs. 20!
BUT, THERE IS HOPE – vs. 22-27…INTERESTING: vs. 20-21 (1) my soul continually remembers (guilt) BUT, (2) I call this to mind…Jeremiah can’t get away from the memory of his sin & has to intentionally make himself remember….What is Jeremiah’s hope? What was he ANCHORED to and what I want YOU to find hope in this…I want you to make this the anchor of your soul in your time of anguish and guilt over your sin/take away & let it just capture you this week:
God is eternally faithful to his CHARACTER and his COVENANT.
God is eternally faithful to his CHARACTER and his COVENANT.
HE IS FAITHFUL TO HIMSELF…TO WHO HE IS!
HE IS FAITHFUL TO HIMSELF…TO WHO HE IS!
HE IS FAITHFUL TO HIMSELF…TO WHO HE IS!
HE IS FAITHFUL TO HIMSELF…TO WHO HE IS!
HE IS FAITHFUL TO HIMSELF…TO WHO HE IS!
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases - hesed – covenant love & devotion (RUTH). God is faithful to His covenant. Jeremiah could rest in this –that God never breaks a promise…he will NEVER break His covenant à Abrahamic & Mosaic.
His mercies are new every morning//never come to an end…great is your faithfulness…. “compassion” – in Hebrew reference to womb (mother)…, . This means that you can never use up God’s mercy…never drain the bank account of God’s mercy. God’s mercy is not the same as it was yesterday! It is brand new today!
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
BUT…I’m not Jewish! I’m not under the Mosaic Covenant! Jeremiah’s hope is in God’s faithfulness to His character & to his covenant. NO…BUT IF YOU ARE SAVED TODAY YOU ARE UNDER A GREATER COVENANT – A COVENANT ETERNALLY SEALED BY THE BLOOD OF GOD HIMSELF.
Jesus was drenched in the cup of God’s wrath so that we could be lavished in His grace…He was condemned so that we could be children…God will never cast you off!
Let’s walk back through the text starting in vs. 1 for just a second if that’s ok…Jesus is the afflicted one who suffered under the rod of God’s wrath. Jesus is the scapegoat who was driven out & brought into the darkness of death & abandonment by God (WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?). Jesus is the one who was struck by the hand of God….Jesus was the one whose flesh and skin were torn and wasted away/whose body was broken/who was besieged & enveloped by bitterness & tribulation. Jesus is the one who was walled in by God’s wrath who bore the chains of our sin & who cried out to God in the garden with no answer from Heaven…the one whom, as Isaiah says, God was pleased to crush….VS. 30 gave his cheek/insulted.
Yes, He will discipline us/allow us to suffer the consequences of our sin…judgment is NEVER the final word…there is always redemption.
Jesus was the object of God’s wrath so that we could become the objects of His unending love
The Lord gave full vent to his wrath;
he poured out his hot anger,
and he kindled a fire in Zion
that consumed its foundations.
Repentance –
The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke in his youth.
Let him sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.
For the Lord will not
cast off forever,
but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
for he does not afflict from his heart
or grieve the children of men.
The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke in his youth.
Let him sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.
For the Lord will not
cast off forever,
but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
for he does not afflict from his heart
or grieve the children of men.
The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke in his youth.
Let him sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.
For the Lord will not
cast off forever,
but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
for he does not afflict from his heart
or grieve the children of men.
When you are caught in the despair of your soul…when you have blown it…when you are tempted to doubt God’s love and his forgiveness, cling to .
For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
GOD IS ETERNALLY FAITHFUL TO HIS CHARACTER & HIS COVENANT...HE IS FAITHFUL TO HIMSELF…TO WHO HE IS!