Old Year Perspective, New Year Outlook

“Fast away the old year passes, Hail the new, ye lads and lasses...” as the Christmas Carol, Deck The Halls, rings out, has come upon us once again. And what a year it has been. I’m sure, as with any year, you have experienced the ups and downs of life. Hopes either realized or delayed yet again, and all the common experiences of time passing by. I am certainly learning, as many wiser people have warned me, that the longer you life, the faster the years pass. Looking at photographs of our children from just a year ago tells you in vivid color just how much really transpires in a year, even though it feels like such a short time.

I have to ask you to be honest this morning. Many people make New Year resolutions. I don’t have a problem with that. There is a sense of newness, a sense of reset, a sense of starting over that comes at the New Year, and many people do well to begin a new tradition or habit or reset their frame of minds on January 1st. The American Puritan Jonathan Edwards had written as many as 70 resolutions to aid his own growth and the growth of young minsters. But I have to ask, how many of you made a resolution, or a plan, or had set out to make a change or adjustment in your life in 2021 that just didn’t pan out?

I know that is true for me on several fronts. We make varied goals, all good and noble. Health goals, reading goals, learning goals, traveling goals, family goals. Many times those goals are met or exceeded, but often they are missed. Disappointment and frustration often comes with the missing of those goals.

And then, enter in years like 2020 and 2021. Years that, at least in recent history, change the entire political, social, economical, and health structure of our lives. Just in our lives, we have many weeks of not meeting together in church. We had to learn the concept of Zoom church, online gatherings, social distancing, new communion elements, we cancelled or changed many plans or traditions. And these decisions were made, no doubt, in good conscience - but they were a change.

Politically, we have seen more unrest than we have in many recent years. The changing of presidents that didn’t come without controversy, both sides accusing the other’s candidate of being woefully unqualified and in danger or ruining the nation. We had cities largely pilfered and charred from riots, we had loss of innocent lives at the hands of those who know better, we had an increase in mistrust of government and law enforcement, we had monumental court cases and decisions. We have seen innocent lives left in distant countries, Christians and missionaries killed and kidnapped for their faith, and the continual marching forward of the normalization and praise of things like abortion.

On a health front, what started as a coupe weeks to avoid a spike in cases of Covid, we have seen the virus morph and change and alter, as viruses do, and though the cases now are very mild, they are in no way disappearing. And many have lost loved ones to that virus, and if not loss of life, many have lost business or careers, students have suffered in their education, some families have been mostly apart from each other for what is approaching two years, and there is the constant struggle of knowing what truly is the best or right thing to do in all these situations.

Needless to say, the last year, and really two years, have been in one sense, a big blur, but in another sense, a time for the history books, and we have lived them. Living experiences of history is something that you don’t think of much day to day. When we read of tough times or monumental occurences in our school textbooks, we often forget that there were millions and billions of people, individuals like you and me, who had to make decisions, process what was going on, pray, trust, and live through those days.

I hope not to be in a down mood this morning, for among all that grief and pain there have been wonderful things. Even within our church, we have seen new people come, we have seen marriage, the birth of children, we have seen the start of new ministries and outreach, we have seen provision for financial needs, we have seen physically healing and answers to prayer on all fronts. And if we began to count the personal blessings that are among all of us, we would need a whole service just dedicated to that.

This morning, I want to bring something before us that is not a New Years resolution, but it is also not a doom and gloom message. I want to set something before us that can serve as a theme, and a touchstone of thought for this year. It is nothing revolutionary, but it is something worth meditating on, returning to, thinking about, dwelling in, and praising God for together. And that theme is the unwavering love, unending mercy, and undying faithfulness of God.

Our text for this morning comes from Lamentations 3:19-27. Before we read that, I want to give a little background.

Lamentations is believed to have been written by the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah, as you have heard, is remembered as the weeping prophet, for it was his lot in life to preach to a people who would not ever listen to the warnings and the teaching that God gave through Him. The warning, ultimately, was that the people of Judah would be carried away, their land conquered and destroyed.

Well, that very thing happened, culminating in 586 BC, during Jeremiah’s life. The Babylonian captivity was a time of brutality and destruction in Judah, including the destruction of Jerusalem, and most importantly, Solomon’s temple.

That is the setting for the book of lamentations. Lamentations comes to terms with judgment. From the very title of the book, you see it - lament. There is woe, there is grief, but there is also recognition on Jeremiah’s part that yes, this is what we (collectively) deserve, but it is still difficult, and it is still unbelievably challenging.

There are many lessons for us in Lamentations, and that is one of them. In difficult, tumultuous times, we can recognize both of those truths. Yes, this is what our world, our people, deserve because of wickedness - but, it is still ok to admit that it is hard.

Other lessons are things like the fact that God keeps his promises in both positive and negative ways. He kept the promise that there would be a time of judgment for Judah, but He also would keep the big picture promises to Israel that depended upon their restoration.

We see the Sovereignty of God, working through things like wicked nations and rules to accomplish his purposes.

But right in the middle of the book, in our text today, the most familiar portion of the book , is this gem of God’s Faithfulness.

Lamentations is a Hebrew Acrostic. The beginning of each verse of each chapter starts with the subsequent letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. And in chapter 3, the middle chapter, they come in sets of three. Aleph Aleph Aleph, Bet, Bet, Bet, Gimel, Gimel, Gimel....

Jeremiah was displaying an incredible picture of order within Chaos - for much of the book is lament, mourning, and woe - but behind it all, the structure is ordered and designed to show that there is order behind the chaos in life as well.

Let us read together Lamentations 3:19-27

Lamentations 3:19–27 ESV

Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. 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. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” 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.

Within this mourning and woe, there is the gem of God’s faithfulness, his mercy, and his steadfast love. So, today and all through this year, may we see this together:

Stake your past, present, and future on the unwavering love, unending mercy, and undying faithfulness of the Lord.

As I said earlier, the acrostic in chapter three comes in triplets or sets of three verses, so that will be our structure in these 9 verses. You will see that each set of three verses has sort of a theme as Jeremiah recounts these truths.

1. What we Remember - Vs. 19-21

The first theme we see in 19-21, is remember. Verses 19-20 both begin with the Hebrew word for “remember,” and verse 21 begin with “this I recall...”

What we remember is often out of our control. If you scan through the book of Lamentations, you will see that much of it is devoted to the vivid image in Jeremiah’s mind of the destruction and chaos that took place.

Also, for us, our memories are often the most vivid of things we would like to forget. Mistakes we have made, tragedies that have ensued, arguments that we’ve had with spouses, ways that we’ve mistreated or been mistreated. We remember things, and we are designed to do so. Our all-knowing, all-wise God is a God who remembers things.

Jeremiah speaks here in verse 19 of the “wormwood and the gall.”

Wormwood is a bitter herb, now commonly used in bitter drinks. Gall is more pungeant, and that word can refer to poison, or even to the bile of the Liver. Either way, the image that we are getting is that of bitterness.

We remember the bitterness. We can feel the bitterness. We can taste it. We know the dreadful experiences that we have gone through, it is vivid in our mind.

As we go to 20, Jeremiah says that “his soul remembers it.” That strengthens the image. How does the soul remember? We don’t usually think of the soul remembering. But the soul is not less than the mind remembering, really in some sense it is more. The soul is our whole inner being, our whole inner man.

Genesis 2:7 ESV

then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

We see that image, that God “formed” man from the dust of the earth. He made us from the dust, from the common elements. Our bodies are much like what is around us. But what is different, is that God breathed into our nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being, creature. That word for living creature is the word “Nephesh” which is the same word for “soul” here in verse 20.

Our soul is, in one sense, our very life. It is our life, in the way that we are made in God’s image, in a way that sets us apart from plants and animals - and this is what, Jeremiah says, “remembers” the bitterness.

The soul remembering is not just the recounting of facts or history, it is the recounting of feelings, emotions, desires. It is to not just remember something happened, but to be continually affected by it. And that is evidenced in what He says,

“it is continually bowed down within me.” We would call this depression. To be bowed low. To be brought low in the inner being. To feel the weight and immensity of something even after it has happened. We know this feeling, even though we have not experienced the destruction of our life and home land, we know this feeling with other tragedies, other losses, other types of chaos. We remember, our soul remembers.

Verse 21, though, turns to a different kind of remembering. “This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope.” In other words, there is a balance between what our soul remembers and feels and responds to, and what we can turn our minds to. Mind is different than soul, but it is not separate from it. It is part of it.

There is a sense in which we can make a conscious choice to “turn our minds” to something, even when our soul is “continually bowed down.” Our soul can feel and remember experiences, be bowed low in depression because of them, but our mind can still be turned to meditate on that which gives us hope.

What is it that your soul remembers as we turn the corner into 2022? Is it wormwood and gall? Is it bitterness? Is it loss of life, loss of time? There is hope, loved one - there is hope. Your soul can be brought low, but you can look up into this hope.

2. What we Cherish - Vs. 22-24

Verse 22-24 are a new “triplet” and represent the next letter in the Hebrew Alphabet, “chet.” And the very first word we see in this section is the word “Chesed.” Now, Scott and Lydia didn’t pay me to preach a message with their Daughter’s name in it, but they did choose a really beautiful name.

So think how Jeremiah is writing this - “Chesed” is the first word in this verse. So he says, “I call this to mind and have hope: Chesed.”

What is Chesed? It is God’s steadfast love. It is his faithful love. To describe it most accurately, it is his Covenant faithfulness. That is, it is the absolute character of God to keep his promise, his word, his love even when it is delayed or put off, in our experience, by long periods of time, hardship, or even judgment in this case. His kindness displayed to the undeserving. Lovingkindness that never ceases.

Chesed is God’s “never giving up, never relenting, never loosening his grip” love. So what is it that we can turn our minds to when our soul is bowed low? Well, firstly it is “Chesed” - God’s faithful, steadfast love. His Unwavering Love. Unwavering Love.

But Jeremiah goes on, because he also speaks of God’s “mercies.” You may have “compassions.” same word, different translation. It is mercy and compassion in the sense of God feeling our need for comfort in suffering. it is feeling tenderness, or affection. The literal translation is often “bowels.” We might say, a “gut feeling” or a “gut check.” The Old King James often speaks of God’s “bowels of compassion.” That is the idea.

And herein is a great parallel, for we spoke in verse 20 about our soul “feeling” the weight and depth of our experiences. But here God “feels” our weigh as well. Jahweh “feeling” our experiences is most vividly pictured in Jesus Christ “feeling” our infirmities, as the author of Hebrews speaks of.

So God, in a sense, “feels with us” in His compassion and mercies. And, they are compassions or mercies that “never come to an end.” Have you ever dealt with someone who has total lack of empathy for your suffering? Have you ever had someone tell you to “just get over it” when you are really struggling, really bowed low? I have experienced that, and shamefully I have also said that before.

But the Lord’s compassions never come to an end. And verse 23 says “they are new every morning.” That is, each morning our soul may be bowed low again because of our experiences. We may wake in a state of depression and sorrow because of tragedy, but each morning there to greet us is God’s fresh and new compassion that doesn’t say “get over it,” but rather meets the hardship with steadfast, unwavering love.

Our compassionate and Kind God gives us unwavering love, but also unending mercies. Unending mercies.

And, of course, that is all topped with this great statement of praise by Jeremiah - great is your faithfulness.

First, the word great - it means varied - in other words, it can meet many different things. It also means sufficient - it can meet ever trial that we have. That is why Paul could say, in his trial, that God’s grace was sufficient for Him - it is sufficient for us as well, but here it is God’s faithfulness.

This word for faithfulness is actually tied to the word that comes into english as “Amen.” The word we close prayer with, the word we close the doxology with. It means “so be it.”

Interestingly, This word for faithfulness is only used during and after the exile into Babylon. This is the kind of faithfulness in which we can say, “even in this, Lord, you are faithful.” Or looking back, “even in that, Lord, you were faithful.”

God’s love is unwavering, his mercy unending, and his faithfulness undying. No matter the trial, we can look backward, we can look forward, we can look at our current experience and say “yes, you are faithful. You were faithful. You will be faithful.” We can look back into 2020, 2021, and other years, and say “you were faithful.” We can look at the uncertainty of 2022 and say “you will be faithful.” And we can walk in the midst of any experience, good or bad, and say “right now, you are faithful.”

Unwavering love, unending mercy, undying faithfulness. This we look to and have hope. This is the God we trust. And because that is true, we can say with Jeremiah “the Lord is my portion, therefore I will hope in Him.”

Psalm 16:5 ESV

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.

Psalm 73:26 ESV

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 119:57 ESV

The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words.

God is our “portion.” Which is more than just a provision. You could have a portion that still leaves you hungry - but God is our “portion” in that He is everything to us. He is our whole lot in life. To the soul that Trusts God, he realizes that everything comes down to Him from the hand of God, and even in the hard times God is everything to Him. He is our portion, and we can hope in Him.

3. What we Wait For - Vs. 25-27

Finally, we see the last “triplet.” And again, all three verses start with a word with the same first letter in Hebrew, and actually they all start with the same word - the word is “Tob” or “good.”

Do you see this progression? If you read all through chapter three, up to verse 21, it is all bad - all mourning, all woe. But at the junction of God’s unwavering love, unending mercy, and undying faithfulness, the result is “good, good, good.” This is beautiful poetry, but it is also beautiful theology - for God’s redemptive work is always a work of bringing beauty from ashes. He would do that with those in exile and the city of Jerusalem, He does that with each person who comes by faith in the Lord jesus Christ, and He will ultimately do that with all creation.

First, in verse 25, the Lord is good. The Lord is good. What does good mean? Well, here it means pleasant or merry. That is, God is favorable to those who come to Him, and specifically, those who wait for Him.

He is good to those who wait for him, and to the soul who seeks Him. We could look at that parallel in two different ways.

First, we could see it as the same person - that is, the person who is waiting or trusting in God is also seeking Him because He is everything. He is their portion.

But, we can also see it as two people. God is good to those who wait on Him, and he is also good to the soul who seeks him - that is, to the soul who has not yet learned that He is everything to them. In this we could recall the words of Isaiah.

Isaiah 55:6 ESV

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;

There is something else here also. The last time we say the word “soul” it was continually remembering the bitterness. But this time, that soul has found hope because it is seeking the Lord. God is beautiful and good to the soul who seeks him. Beauty for bitterness, goodness for difficulty.

So God is good, but in verse 26 and 27 we see that we can do good as well. And what is the good we can do?

It is waiting on God. Waiting quietly for His salvation. Now, I don’t know about you, but sometimes “waiting quietly” does not seem appealing to me. But this isn’t necessarily an audible quiet. The whole book of Lamentations shows us that it is good to cry out to God, that it is okay to acknowledge hardship and difficulty. The quietness here, is an inner quiet. it is the quietness of contentment and expectation. Contentment in the fact that God has placed us i a situation for a reason, and expectation that we will be delivered in His good time.

In this way, silence is not equal to defeat, but to trust and confidence. You see, you can cry out loudly but not have this quiet confidence, and you can be silent physically, but be at unrest and not waiting for the Lord, but it is good that we wait quietly and expectantly on God. He will deliver in His good time.

Finally, verse 27 tells us that it is good, or desirable, to bear suffering in our youth. There are several reasons for that.

If we are in judgment like Judah was, there is time to repent and see God’s deliverance. Many of the young people who were carried away into captivity also saw God’s deliverance through Cyrus in 539 B.C. In this way, there is still great hope when tragedy falls or hardship comes at a young age. Time wouldn’t permit us to tell of young people who experienced a greatly difficult childhood, but have seen God’s hand of deliverance in their adult years.

There is strength to endure. The saying goes that children are resilient, and that is true. If it is your lot in life to face difficulty at a young age, face it with endurance and diligence. God will provide, and He will deliver.

There is a great opportunity to gain and apply wisdom that will serve you and others your whole life. Some lessons are learned in a lifetime, but in God’s good providence, some of us are subjected to things that give a lifetime of wisdom in a short experience of trauma. God is a God of redemption and turning ashes into beauty, and we ought not waste the days of difficulty that he lets us endure, rather may we use them for His glory and in service of those around us.

God is good, he is faithful, even in great difficulty. The people of Judah were facing this difficulty because of their sin, but even in that was the promise of deliverance. And the history in our Bibles tells us that God came through in that case. Even in their chastisement, there was hope. Time doesn’t permit, but if you read on in the following verses you will see things like, “there may be hope.” “the Lord will not cast off forever.” “He will have compassion.”

Dear one, what is it now that you need to cast into the lap of Gods faithfulness? 2020 and 2021 may have been tumultuous for you, or they may have been very good also! In good or bad, in prosperity and depression, in richness and in poorness, may we trust our God.