How do I know & affirm that the Lord is just in my affliction?

Text: Lamentations 1:1-22

Series: Learning to Lament

Date: August 29, 2021

Introduction:

Image - The Skit Guys: Chisel and God's Work of Conformity

Subject - How do I know & affirm that the Lord is just in my affliction?

Need - Why we exist is directly connected to this question. Romans 8:28-29

God does have a purpose for the lives of his people, and believing all things work together for good according to God’s purpose is foundational. If we don’t see God’s good and his good purposes then how can we endure affliction without becoming embittered?

Text - Lamentations 1:18

Preview: To answer this question, the passage will teach us to:

(1) Acknowledging the reality of sin and suffering - We all sin and all suffer. (v. 1-11)

(2) Affirming the righteous One in supplication - We all are needy - must turn to Him. (v. 12-22)

(3) Addressing the heart problem - The real weakness we all have, that we cannot change, is the heart (v. 22)

Body:

How do I know & affirm that the Lord is just in my affliction?

(1) Acknowledging the reality of sin and suffering - We all sin and all suffer. (v. 1-11)

Our existential life in this world confirms that sin and suffering are undeniably real.

Illustration: A child denying the reality of being found by simply covering their faces with a blanket or someone taking blind risk who suffers material consequences.

(a) The lack of rest confirms the reality of sin/suffering (v. 1-3)

(b) The Lords affliction due to sin confirms the reality of sin/suffering (v. 4-11)

Example: Evidence confirms truth.

??? Job?

App: Consider your afflictions under the sovereign care of God.

Quote: Look not on your afflictions as tokens of God’s wrath, but rather as expressions of his love. There is a need for them, else they never would have been sent; and if they operate to purify your souls from dross, you will have reason to be thankful for them to all eternity. Be not, then, so anxious for the removal of your trials, as for the sanctification of them to your souls. Make but the improvement of them which is suggested in my text, and you will have reason to adore God for them as the richest blessings that could be conferred upon you. - Charles Simeon

(2) Affirming the righteous One in supplication - We all are needy - must turn to Him. (v. 12-22)

Our condition is in need of One who is Perfect and able to do something about it.

Illustration: In the OT, two common places of confidence for nations was: horses and chariots. These were signs of military strength....Some trust in horses, some in chariots…But there are some things that cannot be corrected by military might…The need is for someone who can heal and restore the grieving one.

(a) There is the intrinsic cry for sympathy affirming neediness (not merely physical — the need for someone to care) (v. 12-17)

(b) There is the explicit affirmation that the Lord is right and the call to Him (v. 18-22)

Example: We are more than just material beings. Physical suffering/loss reveals the kind of pain that is intrinsic: the pain of loneliness, despair, emotional trauma. We are more than a material being.

??? NT the pain of slander??

App: Beware of the temptation in turning to other lovers/functional saviors.

“Under God’s judgments we first learn, how foolish it was ever to have expected anything good from the world...” - Diedrich

(3) Addressing the heart problem - The real weakness we all have, that we cannot change, is the heart (v. 22)

This is the real cry to the lamenting one - "Lord, you have to make things right because my heart is weak."

Illustration: Root Cause Analysis - the sin beneath the sin…the cause of the Miami Condo collapse?

Gospel Fulfillment:

The only way for us to get a sense of what this looks like is to find someone who is grieving so deeply that He turns in perfect faith to the Father.

Matthew 26:38, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me."

In this account, Jesus is not only grieving, but he is calling his disciples to watch, to pray, to observe, to care, to sympathize...Jesus is the Lamenting One.

Matthew 26:39

(1) Jesus acknowledges the cup of God's wrath - let this cup pass from me...

(2) Jesus affirms that God is righteous - not as I will...

The irony is that Jesus was not facing the wrath of God for his own sins, but he was facing this for the sin of mankind. Note that Jesus too was sorrowful, but he was sorrowful unto death for sins he'd not committed. The Lamenting One fully associates with the offenders, that he might be their Substitute.

Spurgeon: “We apply to Jesus and his sufferings to-night the words which the prophet wrote in reference to Judæa and her national sorrow. We hear the Son of God saying in his death pangs to all this vast assembly, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.”

Thus the starting point in knowing and affirming that the Lord is just is to know/affirm how God has indisputably revealed his righteousness (Romans 1:16-17, II Corinthians 5:21)

This is also the path to knowing and affirming — one of daily repentance and belief in the gospel. Mark 1:14-15

Example: Daniel 9?

Bridge:

How do I know & affirm that the Lord is just in my affliction? By acknowledging sin/suffering; by affirming the Lord in supplication; by addressing the heart problem; but that's where we are not sure what this looks like.

Conclusion:

The Lord is always right, even when I am hurting.

A surgeon's intention is to bring about healing and restoration. The cut may run deep but so does the infection. In the end, the path to mending requires precise cutting. This entire perspective is viewed through the cutting and grief endured by Jesus.

Grieve sin [corporately] unto repentance [particular applications?] — I Corinthians 5:2, 7:9-10

Seek God in supplication [individually/corporately] with hope in his justice because of Jesus

Lament acknowledges and affirms that the Lord is always right, even when I am hurting.