The Pit of Despair

The antidote for despair is the truth

Have you ever been in a situation where you thought everything was just fine and you found out it wasn’t?

Life is just cruising along, everything is going along exactly as planned.

Then out of the blue, bam!

I can hear myself saying, “But I thought everything was fine.”

Well, guess what, it wasn’t.

I know many of us have been there.

I’ve seen several videos lately of armed criminals robbing stores, but everything didn’t go exactly as planned.

In these videos, the store owner pulls out their own gun and shoots the criminal.

And the thing that has struck me most watching those videos is

The criminal always looks surprised.

This isn’t how they planned it to turn out.

They thought everything was fine - even though they knew what they were doing was wrong.

Still, everything is fine.

Until it isn’t.

That was the situation in Jerusalem in 587 BC.

Everything was fine.

The preachers, the leaders, all of the King’s advisors kept telling everyone, everything is fine.

They all read from the same script, peace and prosperity is here and more is on the way.

They knew Babylonians were coming - the Babylonians were to them like the Russians or Chinese are to us -

If the Babylonian’s attack, we will prevail.

Because, God is on our side.

But there was one man who told a different story.

His name was Jeremiah and he was a prophet of God.

Jeremiah told them things weren’t going to turn out like their leaders were saying.

He told them that they were not worshipping right.

He told them they were immoral.

He told them they didn’t love their neighbors.

He told them they were sinful.

And he told them that God wasn’t going to put up with it anymore.

But nobody listened.

Everything is fine, they said.

God wants you to have your best life now they said.

We are God’s chosen people, they said.

They hated Jeremiah so the threw him into a deep well.

It wasn’t full of water, but it was full of mud.

So Jeremiah spent a few long days staring up at a hole in the sky up to his waist in mud.

As far as he knew, this is how he was going to spend his last days on earth.

Eventually he was rescued but what he saw was worse than the well.

The Babylonians attacked and they were fierce.

He saw his friends and family killed and some were carried away into slavery.

God did exactly what He promised He would do - but that didn’t make Jeremiah feel any better.

He wrote a series of poems called the Lamentations.

5 poems - neither built on the other - each one a separate expression of the heartbreak of a man who devoted himself to God.

But life didn’t turn out like he expected it to.

So he lamented that loss.

He passionately expressed his grief and sorrow that his life didn’t turn out like he planned.

As we work through these verses, I want us to pay attention to how Jeremiah talks to the Lord.

I think we need to hear this.

I’m not so sure that we are very “honest to God” if you know what I mean.

We hide behind our prayer words.

We pray like we’re supposed to pray.

Jeremiah didn’t seem to worry about all of that.

He had been in the pit of despair - he needed to talk to God honestly.

He had some questions.

Our text is Lamentations 3.

I invite you to open your Bibles to Lamentations chapter 3.

Open your Bible to the middle and you’ll probably see Isaiah.

Jeremiah is next and then the little 5 poem book of Lamentations.

Now today we’re going to do this a little differently.

Lamentations 3 is 66 verses long and while I really want to read it because it is so beautifully crafted.

I’m not sure that would be the best thing.

So, we’ll simply talk about it as we read our way through.

Lamentations 3:1-3 “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.”

Sometimes we feel like God is against us

That’s exactly what Jeremiah is saying.

“I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath.”

Whose wrath?

God’s wrath.

Seventeen times in the first 18 verses Jeremiah says, “He has....”

He has driven me into darkness.

He had made my flesh and skin waste away.

He had broken my bones.

That’s actually their way of saying my legs turned to noodles.

He has besieged me...

He has enveloped me...

He has made me dwell in darkness...

He has walled me about so I cannot escape...

He has made my chains heavy

He shuts out my prayers.

Look at verse 9: Lamentations 3:9 “he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked.”

Anything there ring a bell?

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Jeremiah is saying God made his path crooked.

Lamentations 3:10-12 “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.”

Again, does “He bent his bow” ring a bell?

In the story of Noah, God floods the earth with water wiping out every wicked person, save Noah and his family.

When it’s all over, God makes a covenant with Noah and God said, Genesis 9:13

Genesis 9:13 ESV

I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

What God is saying is, I’ve hung my bow up.

I won’t use it against humanity again.

Except Jeremiah is saying now you have.

You’ve taken up your bow again - against me!

He has filled me with bitterness

This one makes my flesh crawl - He has made my teeth grind on gravel.

When they were under seige by Babylon, they had no food.

So if a piece of food fell to the ground, someone would grab it and eat it.

Have you ever gotten sand on something you were eating?

Remember that feeling?

That’s what Jeremiah is saying - God’s fed him gravel.

Lamentations 3:17-18 “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.””

I don’t want you to raise your hands or anything, but I wonder if any one of us has had the nerve to talk to God this way?

I was taught we weren’t supposed to - it was disrespectful.

That God doesn’t want to hear any of that junk.

You know its not true, why would you say it?

Why would I say it?

Because in that moment, in my mind, it is true.

I’ve tried as hard as I can to do right - especially Jeremiah right - he was the only person telling people the truth.

I’ve tried as hard as I can and it just doesn’t seem to matter.

I can’t catch a break from you God.

I want to encourage you, if you are feeling this, take it to Jesus.

Open up your heart and confess to him every thing you feel and think and wonder.

Ask Him why would He do this to you?

Why did you let that little Massengale boy get cancer?

Why did you let that pro-life congresswoman get killed?

Why did you let the two elderly saints we are buried last weekend suffer for so long?

Why did you do that?

If this text is any indication, you can’t get where you need to be until you do this first.

Be “honest to God.”

Be honest to yourself.

Have you heard of the movie “Steel Magnolias?”

If you haven’t you need to - it’s old - 1989 - but it’s still good.

It’s a long story, but M’Lynn’s daughter Shelby dies pretty soon after giving birth to a son.

The funeral is over and M’Lynn and her friends are walking away from the cemetery.

And M’Lynn all of a sudden goes off.

She starts yelling and clenching her fists.

And crying, “I just want to know why? WHY?”

I suspect many of you have been there.

Were you wrong when you were there?

Were you wrong to talk to God this way?

No.

No you’re weren’t.

Because when you are honest to God

The truth about God will come out

There’s something we forget.

When we follow Jesus, we enter a relationship.

It’s never one way.

As lonely as we get sometimes, it’s not just us.

He gave us the Holy Spirit - and you know what His job is?

John 16:13–14 ESV

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Jeremiah has honestly poured his heart out to God.

And as he sits there, fists clenched, crying why, something happens.

Lamentations 3:19-21 “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:”

I remember all of this bad stuff.

I can’t let it go.

It beats me down over and over.

But then there is something I remembered, and therefore I have hope.”

You sang it this morning.

Life really does seem like one long beat down sometimes,doesn’t it?

Our souls really do get bowed down.

But then the Spirit whispers a song inside of us.

“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 Thy 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.”

It came from the Lamentations.

Lamentations 3:22-23 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Lamentations 3:25-27 “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.”

Notice the sequence.

Jeremiah was honest to God.

The Spirit reminded Jeremiah, the steadfast - remember we defined that word in our James study.

Another word for steadfast is patient in spite of hardship - it is patient in spite of difficulties.

Jeremiah is going through some hardship, right?

So he is reminded, “The patient love of the Lord, in spite of all of the difficulties you are going through, it never ceases.

You can’t make it stop.

He’s going to love you no matter what.

In fact, his mercies never end.

Every morning when you wake up, we realize a new mercy from the Lord.

A new day, a new chance, a new beginning.

Every day - every stinking day is a new mercy.

“Great is your faithfulness.”

So, knowing this about God, and comparing it to my situation, but it still doesn’t make sense.

So I wait on the Lord to show Himself.

And “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”

Listen to this, “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

This makes so much sense to me.

I don’t know - I expect you have - but you’ve been some place, had some experience.

And you were so hurt, so disappointed, so heartbroken.

And you ranted and raved and fumed and cried - until there was nothing left.

And you sat quietly - and now here you are and God shows up.

Young people, look at Lamentations 3:27-30 “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.”

Jeremiah says it’s good when this happens at your age - and Lord knows it will.

At your age the highs are so high and the lows are so low.

And everything that happens to you feels like it has eternal, everlasting, earth-shattering consequence.

So it’s good when your bubble gets burst.

And you scream and rail until you are all wrung out.

And then the Lord reminds you “Great is Thy Faithfulness.”

And when you wake up the next day, with a brand new chance to start all over again, He reminds you of His mercies.

And you realize you can go back to school, or work.

And you will survive.

Because He is faithful to see to it.

So as painful as it is, it is good for it to happen to you now.

This won’t be the last time tragedy will enter your life.

And if you remember His faithfulness first, the roller-coaster ride you are on, yeah, it will smooth itself out.

Because you will gain enough wisdom to realize

The truth of your situation

And that truth is simple.

Much of our suffering, much of our pain is self inflicted.

Lamentations 3:37-39 “Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?”

A lot of times we feel like God is after us because - well - He is after us.

A good parent disciplines His children and the Lord is the ultimate good parent.

Jeremiah is affirming here that nothing that comes to us gets to us unless it passes through the hand of God first.

He may not directly cause it to happen, but He does allow it to happen.

I know that is so hard to hear for someone who has lost a child or a parent.

But is it not true?

“Who has spoken and it came to pass.”

Let there be light.

Let the earth sprout vegetation.

Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens.

Let the waters swarm with fish and the sky teem with birds.

Let us make man...

If God is sovereign, then He can cause anything and He can stop anything.

Everything on the earth is under the control of God.

So, why should you be surprised that you are punished for your sins?

Now let’s be careful her.

Not every hardship is God punishing a sin.

God isn’t a child abuser, He won’t kill your child because you told got a divorce.

That said, as we sin and stray further and further away from the Lord’s design, the Lord allows the results of our choices to pile up on us, doesn’t he?

That’s why sometimes parents have to do “tough love.”

They have to tell a child no, I won’t support your behavior anymore.

You are on your own.

If you go to jail, I won’t bail you out.

If you end up on the street, I won’t send you money.

Some of you have done that.

I can’t imagine the heartache and courage that took - but you had to allow the Lord to work.

You had to allow the Lord to let the results of your child’s choices to pile up on them.

So they would have a chance.

Lamentations 3:40-42 “Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord! Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: “We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.”

Now what do you make of that last line?

“We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.”

Well that’s not God - He always forgives.

Does He?

Does He allow us to run rampant, living immoral lives and giving Him a bad name and He simply goes, “Meh?”

Sin is never “meh” to the Lord.

Sin killed us.

We were dead in our sins.

We were destined to eternal punishment.

And had it not been for the mercy of the Father sending Jesus.

We wouldn’t be forgiven.

Sin cost Jesus His position in heaven and His life on earth.

Sin is never “meh” to God.

Lamentations 3:40 “Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord!”

He could have said repent.

Turn away from our junk and turn to the Lord.

Lamentations 3:55-57 ““I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’ You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’”

Remember they tossed Jeremiah into a deep well because he didn’t hold to the party line.

This was his Pit of Despair.

Don’t you think verses 1 - 18 all ran though his mind while he was looking up.

Seeing a small hole way in the distance with a little pinpoint of the sky.

Up to his waist in mud with no way to climb out.

He rails to God - why?

Didn’t I do what I was supposed to do?

Why?

And then he ran out of mad.

And he got quiet.

And the Spirit reminded him of the steadfast love of the Lord.

The Spirit reminded him that God is forever faithful.

So he cried out to God.

From the depth of his pit of despair.

And God answered, “Do not fear.”

This isn’t an Old Testament story.

This isn’t an morality tale with a tidy little lesson for you to learn.

This is the word of the Lord to us.

If you are in sin, repent.

And if you are not - if you are doing the right thing but it seems God is out to get you, do not fear.

If you are in the pit, do not fear.

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.