The God I Know

THE GOD I KNOW Lamentations 3:1-33 July 11, 2021 The United Methodist Church is operated according to the rules and regulations contained in the Book of Discipline. In this case discipline doesn't mean punishment, it means adherence to a planned program. If you get up at the same time every morning to pray and exercise, you are disciplined. One of the many topics in the Book of Discipline is how do we know God? How did the generations who came before us know and understand God? And, how do we know who God is today? John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, developed a process we call the quadrilateral.1 First on the list is scripture. Many Methodists don't understand this, but the Book of Discipline gives priority to scripture. The four legs of the quadrilateral are not even. The Bible gives us first-hand accounts of Jesus and his ministry, recorded by those who met him, and talked to him, and were taught by him. If you want to know what Jesus would do, then get your answer straight from the horse's mouth. That seems pretty common sense, doesn't it? The first and best way to know God, is through the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. The second leg of the quadrilateral is tradition. When the Apostles began the new church, they didn't just invent things to do on Sunday. They deliberately went back to the practices and procedures Jesus had taught them. Do we serve Communion on Sunday, or is it a special event like Christmas? How do we baptize someone, and who do we baptize, and what do we say when we baptize? Many of the practices we observe in our church trace all the way back to the Apostles. Third is reason. God gave us brains for a purpose, and we should use them. As our world changes, we must attempt to interpret the will of God in completely new situations. Jesus never speaks a word about computers and pornography. You won't find that topic anywhere in the Bible. But, he does speak constantly about respecting and caring for those who cannot care for themselves - women, children, orphans, widows, foreigners, the poor. And, all of the people on that list are victimized by pornography. So, it is reasonable that Jesus would oppose pornography. Therefore, the quadrilateral leg of reason is our denominational basis for opposing pornography. The final leg of the quadrilateral is experience. As you go through your life, you have experiences which shape your understanding of God. Maybe at the lowest point of your life a Christian helped you. And, now, you see God as a rock in times of distress. Maybe you hurt someone you loved. And, instead of cutting you clear out of their lives, they forgave you. And, that connected with you. You see salvation, and forgiveness of sin, in a whole new light. Or, maybe you've had a moment where you are absolutely convinced God reached down and touched your life. Not even through an intermediary - just God himself. These experiences impact how we view God, what we believe about God, and how we relate to God. Because none of us have the exact same experiences, it is probable that the God we know is slightly different to each of us. One caution, experience is the most likely leg of the quadrilateral to be abused. Experience must be tested against scripture, tradition, and reason to be validated. But, when experience is validated, it becomes the most powerful impression of the God we know. Chapter three, poem number three, of Lamentations is markedly different than the other four.2 In all five poems there are two speakers - the narrator, and a victim. In the other four poems the victim is female. But, in chapter three the victim is an old man. His face is wrinkled, his hair is grey, and he has been physically and emotionally devastated by the fall of the great city of Jerusalem. But, unlike the other four poems, this old man can remember back to when life was good. And he chooses to believe goodness is the real character of God. His current suffering is only one experience, in a lifetime of experiences, of God. He begins the poem by describing his current situation. He is alone. There is no one to comfort him, no one to help him. We don't know what happened to his friends and family. When the Babylonians took away the residents of Jerusalem as slaves, they left behind the people who had no value. If you had a physical deformity you were left behind. If you had mental impairment you were left behind. Most of the old people died of starvation during the siege. But, those who survived were left behind. It was a punch in the face that you don't matter. You have no value. You are worthless. What a horrible feeling. He talks about how dark it is.3 Throughout Biblical poetry light is a metaphor for God. What are the first words God speaks in Genesis? Let there be light. And, there is light, and God is present. When John writes about the arrival of Jesus he doesn't talk about Joseph and Mary and Bethlehem. He writes (1:1-5), "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it." If light is the presence of God, then darkness is the absence. The old man is saying, I don't feel God anymore. I feel alone. God is everywhere in the world. There is nowhere you can go where God is not. But, at this moment, the old man doesn't feel God. For the first time ever he feels completely alone. And, it's painful. It is physically painful. Have you ever been there? Have you ever experienced the feeling that either there is no God, or that God has abandoned you? And, if so, has that experience had an impact of how you perceive God? Has it changed your image of the God you know? The old man could just give up and die. No one would blame him. But, he makes a deliberate decision. I will not let what is happening right now, be my only experience of God. God has been with me my entire life. God has done good things for me. Surely, all of that good doesn't disappear just because I'm going through hard times now. What's happening right now is not the God I know. And, at this point, poem number three takes a beautiful turn for the positive. The God I know is trustworthy. The God I know is faithful. Even if I don't see it right now, my experience is that God will always come through. His change of perspective is so positive, verses 22 and 23 become the basis for a very uplifting hymn. If you haven't read your newsletter, please read it. Kathy Stamm wrote an excellent article on the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness, which comes from today's text. "Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be. Great is they faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me." The old man says, when I look back at my life - or when I look back at the history of my people - I can see God working for good. And, since God knows everything, would he have wasted his time being so good to us, only to abandon us now? That's not reasonable. That's not like the God I know. The God I know uses hard times to improve situations. The God I know acts for redemption and restoration.4 The old man believes he, and his people, are being taught a lesson which will ultimately be for their benefit. He had no way of knowing that 70 years later, the people who would come back to Jerusalem, would have an amazing faith. Their experience in exile would create a Bible-based, intelligent, faith. They would love and worship God better than they ever had. The old man would never see that. But, he believed in it, based on his experience of God. I don't know if you noticed, but Jesus is all over chapter 3 of Lamentations.5 Verse 30 - Let them turn the other che3ek to those who strike them, and accept the insults of their enemies. Who do we know who said turn the other cheek, and love your enemies? Jesus. Verse 27 - It is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of God's discipline. Who do we know who said for my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light? Jesus. Verse 8 - And though I cry and shout he has shut out my prayers. Who cried from the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus. Verse 14 - My own people laugh at me, all day long mocking me. Who hung on the cross while the crowds mocked him shouting; if you really are God save yourself? Jesus. Verse 15 - He has filled me with bitterness and given me a bitter cup of gall to drink. Who was given only bitter gall to drink on the cross? Jesus. There is so much Jesus in this poem. And, that's perfect. Because, Jesus is the ultimate example of God bringing something good out of something bad. If we had been a fly on the wall of the upper room on Friday night, after Jesus was buried, what would the Apostles be experiencing? It is dark, and we are alone. And, we don't feel God with us anymore. Should they trust that feeling, or make the decision to go with the God they know? Who was the God of their experience? In two weeks we will finish poem number three, and hear more of the old man's thoughts. When we work through chapters four and five we will hear the voices of the people who were taken away as slaves. You know who never speaks directly in Lamentations?6 God. God never breaks into the conversation and says, here I am. Here is why this is happening. Trust me. In this entire book we must work out for ourselves - do we trust God, or not? Do we only love God when everything is roses, rainbows, and unicorns? Or, do we believe God is good, even when everything is falling apart? Is our relationship with God based only on our most recent experience? Or, should we look back on the entirety of our lives to create a profile for the God we know? One of the things I like about Lamentations, is that it doesn't try to pretty-up God.7 Lamentations is honest to real life. If you became a Christian so you would never have another challenge, another trial, another loss, another frustration, another hurt - you made a mistake. But, if you became a Christian so you would have an ally and a friend, and a Savior, when you go through your next challenge, trial, loss, frustration, or hurt - you done good. Not every day with God will be dark and black. God is a giver of good days too. And, when the dark days come, we must remember the good days. God is not just the God I encountered this morning. God has been God my entire life. And, all of my experiences - good and bad - are bound together in the God I know. So, when bad times come, I will trust that God is good, all the time. I will make the decision that good will come from this bad. I will trust and believe in the God of my youth. I have a lifelong relationship with my Savior. And, I will trust the God I know. 1 The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church (Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 2016), 78-82. 2 Raymond B. Dillard & Tremper Longman III. An Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 306. 3 R. C. Sproul, general editor. New Geneva Study Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1248. 4 Norman Gottwald, New Interpreter's Study Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), 1148. 5 NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 1326. 6 Jerry A. Gladson, "Postmodernism and the Deus Absconditus in Lamentations 3," Biblica, 91 no. 3 (2010), 321-334. 7 Raymond R. Roberts, "Lamentations 3," Interpretation, 67 no. 2 (April 2013), 196-198. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 2