Giving Thanks When Life Is Hard

If you have a Bible would you find the book of Lamentations with me - Lamentations 3?

I just love Thanksgiving and I love it even more with each year I age. But not everyone has an equally good time on this holiday.

The day before Thanksgiving an elderly man in Phoenix called his son in New York and said to him, “I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing. 45 years of misery is enough. We are sick of each other. So call your sister in Chicago and tell her.” As soon as he hung up the phone from his dad, the son called his sister. She exploded on the phone when she called her father only moments later, “Like heck, they are getting divorced,” she shouted! “I'll take care of this when I see you later tonight. You are not getting a divorce. Don't do a single thing until we get there, do you hear me?” The father hung up the phone turned to his wife and said, “Okay, honey, the kids are coming for Thanksgiving and they are paying for their flights!” I hope you don’t have to threaten your family to gather them together for Thanksgiving this year.

As you are turning to the book of Lamentations, the book consists of 5 poems. Now if you’re a guy’s guy, then you probably are not big in poetry. Reading and writing poetry ranks somewhere between attending Taylor Swift concerts and hanging out at the mall all day. Despite our lack of love of poetry, there is something good here.

For 25 centuries, this book has given voice to the pain God’s people have experienced in times of great suffering.

I want to talk to you about “Giving Thanks When Life Is Hard.”

Today’s Scripture

“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” (Lamentations 3:21-25).

Lamentations ranks only behind Leviticus in being one of the most neglected parts of the Bible. In fact, a study was done of the ten most popular Bible verses all over the world in terms of internet searches. John 3:16 is by far and away the most popular Bible verse. No verse in Lamentations is anywhere to be found.1 And Jeremiah were here with us, he would tell you that you could check back every year and his Lamentations never makes the top Ten!

God cares about your hope when you are struggling. God wants you to tenaciously hold onto hope when your life is challenging. Again, God cares about your hope when you are struggling.

In the span of just a few verses, we move from hopelessness to hopefulness. Lamentations was written by the prophet, Jeremiah. Jeremiah wrote the book because the Temple was torn down in 587 BC. Jeremiah’s nation was destroyed, and this book is his way of showing the grief God’s people experienced.

Again, “Giving Thanks When Life Is Hard.”

1. A Grief that Is Felt

“Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me” (Lamentations 3:19-20a).

Jeremiah is grieving and his “soul continually remembers it.” Further, the crushing grief bows him down. He doesn’t call it a bad day; instead, he says, it’s “my affliction” and “my wanderings.” This is some serious pain and grief.

1.1 What Makes You Cry?

I have learned what makes you cry may not make me cry. I love watching sports and my wife, Traci may watch a thrilling championship game with me. She is usually good for some sarcastic comments about the overemphasis of sports in our day. Several times she’s commented on why men feel the need to cry when they lose a sports game. I remember when my high school lost in the district of my senior year. The last high school game of my basketball career. I shared how I cried and lots of us cried at that moment. I may or may not have cried when our children were born, but I cried when my high school sports career ended ?.

1.2 Suffocating Anguish

What makes you cry may not make me cry. Now I have shared with sort of a silly story of when I was a teenager. But the kind of grief expressed here is on a whole other level. This is more on the lines of despair. An overwhelming, suffocating sense that life is just not ever going to get any better. For some of you, this could be a miscarriage. Or dealing with addiction when you have been to rehab more times and you’re embarrassed. You’ve put everything into your company, and now you’re only left with despair because you’re bankrupt. Some of you know the anguish of a marriage breaking up and others of you know the despair of marriage never coming together. Again, a suffocating sense that life is never going to get better.