Lamenting with Hope

[Sermon recording begins at 0:30:00]

Introduction

Good morning! It’s my privilege to fill in for Bro. Terry this morning.

Many of you probably know us, but some may not. My wife Jennifer and I serve with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Papua New Guinea. We’re working with a small people group called the Mubami to help translate the Bible into their language. We’ve spent the past two years there in PNG getting oriented to the culture and starting our language learning. But, we had a good bit of physical and spiritual training that we underwent during that time, too, and our time there has impressed on me the need to preach on this topic.

Many times in church we unintentionally give off the impression that in order to serve God or be a Christian you have to have it all figured out. We do this unintentionally, I think, by not letting others know when we’re struggling with doubts and pretending like we have more faith than we really do. So when the really hard times come, we can find ourselves overwhelmed with emotions that we don’t know how to process, wrestling with doubts, and feeling isolated and alone. This can lead us to withdraw from others and from God, and I think the root cause for much of this unnecessary suffering is that we don’t know how to suffer. Perhaps we understand that Christians suffer, and perhaps we even understand some about why we suffer, but how do we actually suffer well?

During our time in PNG, we went through some pretty dark times. While we had been in a village in PNG as part of our training and ministry, Jennifer had contracted a serious bacterial illness which resulted in widespread sepsis. Within just a couple days of the onset of symptoms, she was having multi-organ failure and had to be evacuated to Australia for medical treatment. Every day seemed to bring a worse prognosis. Her heart rate stayed at 150+bpm for over two weeks While she did eventually recover, those first few days were some dark days as we waited to see how things would go.

When the one-year anniversary of that medevac rolled around in 2018, it caught me by surprise. The “One year ago today” Facebook notifications reminded me of the days we sat waiting to see if she would live or die. That triggered a couple weeks of intense flashbacks. I wasn’t merely remembering the medevac, I was reliving it. All of the traumatic memories came flooding back one after another in an endless barrage along with all of the emotions all at once—fear, guilt, anxiety, confusion. I remember even having an out of body experience during one of these times. Later, when speaking with a counselor on staff there at the missions center, I came to realize that I was going through delayed onset PTSD.

Those memories triggered a depression that lasted for months. I’ve never struggled with depression before, so it caught me off-guard. I lost sight of what was true. My relationship with God, my wife, and my friends suffered as I withdrew and pushed everyone away.

But during that time, God led me to this passage in Lamentations. For the first time, the verses in Jeremiah’s lament rang true in my life.

In the Old Testament, we get a glimpse into some of the most intense suffering one can imagine in the books of Job and Lamentations. Today, we’re going to focus on the suffering recorded in Lamentations chapter 3.

The word “lament” is not a word we use much in modern English, but it means simply “a passionate expression of grief or sorrow.”

Lament—a passionate expression of grief or sorrow.

Most scholars think that the book of Lamentations was most likely written by Jeremiah the prophet shortly after the fall of Jerusalem. Now, to understand where Jeremiah is coming from, we need a little bit of the back-story. Around the year 930 BC, following the death of King Solomon the Kingdom of Israel underwent a civil war and split into two separate kingdoms. The northern Kingdom was called “Israel” while the southern Kingdom was called “Judah”. During this time, both kingdoms underwent rapid moral and spiritual decay. The books of 1 & 2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles detail the deteriorating situation in these two kingdoms. Idols were set up and worshipped instead of God, children were sacrificed to false gods, God’s Law—given to Moses on Mt. Sinai—was completely disregarded and even completely lost for a long period of time. While there were some good kings in this period of time, the majority were evil, wicked, idolatrous, corrupt, murdering scoundrels who led God’s people astray. God sent prophet after prophet to bring them back, but many of these prophets were mocked, exiled, and even killed.

After hundreds of years of patience, God was bringing down judgement on his people. In 722 BC the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria and carried off into exile. Then, just a little over 100 years later, after Judah failed to heed the warnings, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded Jerusalem in 605, exiling many Jews (including Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) to Babylon. A second group of captives would be deported to Babylon eight years later.

Following the second exile, some Jews remained in Jerusalem and Nebuchadnezzar set up Zedekiah as a puppet king under his rule. But, despite God’s warnings not to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah rebelled in 588. Jerusalem was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar’s army for two years. Cut off from supplies and trade routes, the Jews suffered starvation and abject poverty.

Jeremiah records the gravity of the situation in his writings:

Lamentations 4:4–5 ESV

The tongue of the nursing infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives to them. Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple embrace ash heaps.

Lamentations 4:9–10 ESV

Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who wasted away, pierced by lack of the fruits of the field. The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Lamentations 5:9–15 ESV

We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness. Our skin is hot as an oven with the burning heat of famine. Women are raped in Zion, young women in the towns of Judah. Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders. Young men are compelled to grind at the mill, and boys stagger under loads of wood. The old men have left the city gate, the young men their music. The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning.

Finally, in 586 BC, the Babylonians broke through the city walls, burned down the Temple, raped, pillaged, and massacred the people and carried off the remainder into captivity in Babylon.

King Zedekiah and his family tried to flee, but were caught. The last thing Zedekiah ever saw was the execution of his family and his nobles before his eyes were gouged out. (This story never makes it into kids’ storybook Bibles!)

In the midst of this unspeakable trauma and suffering, Jeremiah penned the book of Lamentations.

Lamentations 3:1-33

Lamentations 3:1–33 ESV

1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; 2 he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; 3 surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. 4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones; 5 he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; 6 he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. 7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; 8 though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; 9 he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked. 10 He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding; 11 he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; 12 he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow. 13 He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver; 14 I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. 15 He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. 16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; 17 my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; 18 so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.” 19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! 20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. 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. 26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. 27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. 28 Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; 29 let him put his mouth in the dust— there may yet be hope; 30 let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults. 31 For the Lord will not cast off forever, 32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 33 for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.

Prayer

While I wouldn’t wish the suffering that Jeremiah and his people endured upon anyone, I’m grateful for Jeremiah’s example in scripture and his willingness to write out his feelings because it gives us a glimpse into how a Christian ought to endure suffering. There are a number of lessons that we can learn from Jeremiah, but I want to highlight these today.

1. God is sovereign over all—both the good and the bad

We are often quick to recognize that evil comes from Satan and sinful people—and that is true. But, any theology of suffering must recognize God’s sovereignty over suffering or it will be inadequate and insufficient to give us comfort.

Lamentations 3:38 ESV

38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?

Notice how many times Jeremiah attributes his suffering to God! The pronouns “He” and “His” are clearly references to God and occur repeatedly.

Notice the things that Jeremiah attributes to God:

“Turns his hand against me” (3:3)

“made my flesh and skin waste away” (3:4)

“shuts out my prayer” (3:8)

“blocked my ways” (3:9)

“a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding…tore me to pieces” (3:10-11)

“set me as a target for his arrow” (3:12)

“filled me with bitterness” (3:15)

While it’s true that Nebuchadnezzar and his army were the direct source of his and his people’s suffering, Jeremiah recognizes that ultimately, God has allowed and ordained these events.

The same is true of Job. While Satan was the one afflicting Job, Job recognized that ultimately his trials had come from the hand of God.

Job 6:2–4 ESV

2 “Oh that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! 3 For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash. 4 For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

When those around us suffer and ask why God has allowed their suffering, it will be of little or no comfort to deny that God has indeed allowed it. Many times it’s tempting to try to console the one suffering by saying, “This isn’t from God, it’s from Satan or evil people.” The motivation is good—we don’t want to accuse God of doing wrong. Of course, this in itself assumes that causing someone to suffer is wrong. While that’s generally true, it’s not true of God. When God causes or allows suffering you can be certain that he does so for very good reasons. We’ll talk about some of that later.

Regardless, God doesn’t need your defense. If the suffering seems too extreme, the solution is not to attempt to vindicate God by saying that he’s not responsible for it. Those who are suffering know better. They know that an all-powerful God could prevent suffering but for some reason chooses not to do so.

Yes, God has allowed and even ordained the suffering that you are experiencing. It was not an accident, and God is not surprised at the trials you are enduring. If that was true of the suffering experienced by Jeremiah and his people then it is most certainly true of your suffering.

2. It’s ok to cry out to God in anger, frustration, and pain. Lamentation is an expression of faith.

Are you surprised by the language that Jeremiah uses towards God? He describes feeling like God is an angry bear or lion just waiting to tear him to pieces, an archer who has set him as the target for his arrows.

Jeremiah is at the depths of despair. Everything he loves has been destroyed. For years, he’s begged the leaders of his people to heed God’s warnings only to be disregarded and belittled. Worse, when he faithfully delivers God’s warnings he’s even accused of and prosecuted for treason!

Jeremiah 38:1–6 ESV

1 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people: 2 “Thus says the Lord: He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live. 3 Thus says the Lord: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.” 4 Then the officials said to the king, “Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.” 5 King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you.” 6 So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

Can you imagine how frustrating and disheartening that must have been? To be accused as a traitor when your entire ministry has been aimed at the salvation of your people? And then, the horror of witnessing the people you love starve and be reduced to abject poverty and humiliation. To witness unspeakable violence and atrocities committed to your neighbors, family, and friends. Can you imagine seeing the glorious temple—God’s home amongst his people and the image of the fulfillment of God’s promises to his people—ransacked, looted, and burned to the ground by foreigners. To be carried off into exile in a foreign land, never again to return to your homeland. To say that Jeremiah had hit rock bottom would be an understatement.

Some people think that it’s inappropriate in your despair to cry out in anger to God. “We shouldn’t talk like that to God,” they say. “We should always remember to speak with reverence to God.”

Well, that’s generally true. But I think God would rather you cry out in anger to him than stay silent and say nothing.

Crying out in anger to God is actually an expression of faith in several ways:

it’s a recognition that there is a God and that he hears your prayers.

If there’s no God, then what’s the use in crying out to him?

Atheists don’t pray!

it’s a recognition that God is sovereign over your situation

If God has no control over your situation, what’s the use in praying?

Crying out to God is a recognition that he is ultimately in control of your situation.

it’s a recognition that because God is sovereign over your suffering, he also has the power and ability to change your circumstances.

If God were powerless to change our circumstances, there would be no point in crying out to him.

Conversely, when we don’t cry out to God in the midst of our trials, we imply that God is not in control of our circumstances or that he doesn’t have the power to change the situation.

it’s a recognition and expression of your relationship with God

One of the unique truths of Christianity is that EVERY believer has the right, the privilege, to approach the throne of God with their requests. This truth is taught explicitly in Heb 4:15-16, which we will read in a minute.

Crying out to God in the midst of our anguish is an implicit expression of the fact that we believe we have the right to approach God with our problems. When we approach the throne, we do so as children of our Heavenly Father.

If the circumstances of life have beaten you down, it’s ok to cry out to God. Tell him how you feel. Cry out with Jeremiah in Lamentations 3 or with David in Psalms 22:1-2

Psalm 22:1–2 ESV

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.

God hears your cries and he is not offended by the painful pleas of his children.

It is better to cry out in anger than to sit silently in indifference.

3. In your pain, don’t forget to speak to God, not just about God.

In Lam 3:1-22 Jeremiah is talking about God. He’s meditating on God’s character and God’s judgment that he has poured out on his people. Notice how all of the pronouns in 3:1-22 are in the third person (“he” and “his”).

But look at the shift in Lam. 3:22-23:

Lamentations 3:22–23 ESV

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

It’s brief—he quickly transitions back into the third person, talking about God. But for a brief moment Jeremiah looks up to heaven and talks directly to God. And what comes out is nothing short of amazing. One of the most beautiful pictures of faith nestled in amongst the agony, words of pure gold.

“Great is your faithfulness.”

It’s good to think about God during our trials, if we’re not careful we’ll get stuck there in verse 20—“continually remember[ing]” our sorrows and feeling as if God is a “bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding.”

So if you get nothing else from the message today, get this! In your pain, don’t just talk about God, talk to God!

Are you suffering financial hardships? Jesus was homeless and got his tax money out of the mouth of a fish! Talk to him! He understands.

Are you suffering rejection by your peers or family? Most of Jesus’ brothers didn’t believe he was the Messiah until after his death and resurrection. The religious leaders who should have worshipped him crucified him instead. Talk to Jesus, he understands

Are you suffering because of sin in your life? Jesus may not have sinned, but scripture tells us this:

Hebrews 4:15–16 ESV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

4. In your lamentation, cling to hope.

If you’re like me, you might be wondering “How in the world could Jeremiah have hope in the midst of his suffering?”

A. First, we can have hope because of God’s past dealings with his people and with us.

Look at David’s lament in Psalm 22. He didn’t stop at the end of verse 2:

Psalm 22:3–5 ESV

3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4 In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

David feels forsaken by God, but he knows better than to trust his feelings alone. So, he looks back into the past at how God has dealt with him and his people. He remembers the times that his forefathers cried out to God and were rescued. He clung to what he knew was true when life seemed uncertain.

Sometimes our minds cannot be trusted. Do not question in the dark what you knew in the light.

B. We can hope in the character of God.

When we’re struggling financially, our hope isn’t based upon the ever-changing stock market. When we’re ridiculed and oppressed by people, our hope isn’t based upon the supposed goodness of mankind. When we suffer physical and mental illness our hope isn’t based in modern medicine or psychology. Our hope lies in the unchanging character of God.

When we suffer as a result of our sins, we can hope in the character of God who is merciful, loving, and gracious. Sometimes when we suffer, especially when we suffer as a result of our sins, we feel as though we can’t expect God to step in and help because we’ve earned our suffering. This is a lie from Satan. Look at what Jeremiah says in 3:21-23:

Lamentations 3:21–23 ESV

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

If there was ever a group of people who had earned their suffering, it was the Israelites in exile! Boy had they earned it! But still, Jeremiah knows that God is merciful, loving, and forgiving. So he has hope!

We don’t have hope because of who we are—we don’t deserve to be rescued. We have hope because of who God is—he is merciful , faithful, and loving.

C. When we undergo the discipline of our Father, we can hope in the future restoration that God always brings.

When God disciplines us, he always does so with the ultimate aim of restoration. The same Jeremiah who penned these lines in Lamentations also recorded this promise from God in Jeremiah 29:11:

Jeremiah 29:10–14 ESV

“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

I love this passage because it shows the heart of God. God is a loving father who, even in his discipline, has our restoration and welfare at heart.

D. We can hope in the resurrection which God has promised to all believers.

As we reflect on Easter, we’re reminded of the ultimate source of our hope. In the end, no matter what may befall us in this life, we will share in the resurrection with Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 ESV

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Since Jennifer’s medevac and the PTSD and depression that followed, I haven’t always felt God’s presence and I’ve struggled with ongoing anxiety and depression. But, I have hope because of who God is and what he has done in the past. Even as I was reliving the Valley of the Shadow of Death, God was blessing us with a new life—we found out that Jennifer was expecting that same month. We named our daughter Hope as a reminder of the Hope that we have in Christ.

Even when we are going through difficult times, there is always a thread of mercy and grace that runs though our pain.

God always provides the mercy that we need to get through each day. He doesn’t give us more than we need for the day, but it’s never less than we need.

Lamentations 3:24 ESV

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

God is our portion, our manna in the wilderness. But we have to rely upon him each and every day. And when we look to God to fill our needs, he never disappoints.

Conclusion: Lament with Hope.

God is in control, even when tragedy strikes. And it is ok to cry out to God and be honest with Him on how you feel. Don’t forget to talk to God and not just about God, and cling to the hope that we have in Christ. We are never alone. Because Christ was forsaken on the cross by the Father as our sins were poured out on him, we are never forsaken. Because Christ suffered, we too will also suffer. But we can suffer with hope because, just as Christ was resurrected, we, too, will be resurrected. So in your lamentations, lament with hope.