Coping With Crisis
(Finding God’s Presence In The Midst of our Pain)
Aim: To show how the captivity of Judah revealed the character of God.
Text: Lamentations 1:1-11
Introduction: The book of Lamentations is a dirge. It’s a funeral song. We might call it a requiem, and as such it is a book filled with remorse and sorrow. One commentator’s opening remarks on this book read. “Lamentations is the most depressing book in the Bible.” That would do little to encourage you to read it! Yet read it we must. These are the words of Jeremiah AFTER judgment finally fell upon Judah and Jerusalem, and the people of the land were taken captive into Babylon.
The Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the O.T. Scriptures, has a brief note on Lamentations suggesting that Jeremiah uttered these laments whilst sitting on a hill overlooking the desolate city of Jerusalem. Whether that is true or not, one thing is for sure these are the words of Jeremiah, and although he had predicted the fall of Jerusalem and the captivity of its people, he took no pleasure in the fact that he was vindicated in the end when his prophecy came to pass. I like that. Jonah sat on a hilltop and skulked because Nineveh was not destroyed, Jeremiah sat on a hillside and wept because Jerusalem was. Jeremiah, not Jonah represents the heart of God in this thing. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, nor does he draw any satisfaction from the chastisement of His own.
So what of the book itself? Well, it is a series of five dirges, and if you take a quick glance you will discover that every chapter of Lamentations contains twenty-two verses, except for the third and middle chapter which has sixty-six. Now that hints at something about the structure of the book. Each chapter of Lamentations is written as an acrostic. There are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and beginning with aleph, the equivalent to our letter “a”, the verses run successively through the alphabet. In the third chapter this happens in triplet, the first three verses begin with the first letter, the second three with the second letter, the third with the third etc., and hence sixty-six verses. The only chapter, which is excluded from this structure, is the fifth, although it also has twenty-two verses.
Now you might say, why would Jeremiah write this book in this way? Probably because this book was never written with an eye to private devotions, but always intended as a liturgy, and so it is. Certain books of the O.T are associated with particular events in Jewish history and are read to mark those events. These books are known in Judaism as the “Megilloth” or “Scrolls”, so called because each of them is written on a scroll to be read at certain Jewish festivals, so Song of Solomon is read at Passover, Ruth at Pentecost, Ecclesiastes at Tabernacles, Esther at Purim and Lamentations at the anniversary of the fall of Jerusalem.
Certainly the book does not at first glance lighten the heart. In chapter 1 we read of Jerusalem’s plight, in the first half of that chapter the city’s is referred to in the third person, Jeremiah is speaking, but in the second half reference to the city is made in the first person, showing that the city bemoans herself.
In chapter 2 we read about the anger of the Lord against Judah and Jerusalem. The emphasis being that Jerusalem’s destruction was not ultimately at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, but at the hand of God, He caused her to fall, the expressions, “the Lord hath” and “He hath” occur no less than 30 times in that chapter. Look up Lamentations 2:1-9.
The third chapter brings us to the heart of the book. Here Jeremiah expresses his personal sorrow at all that befell Jerusalem.
The fourth chapter again focuses upon the anger of the Lord, but this time his anger is not just described, but defended. God had a right to do as He did.
Finally in chapter 5 we read Jerusalem’s prayer in the midst of her desolation, and with the prayer comes the promise of restoration.
Now, we could go through this book and read it as a dirge, and we could centre on the heartache Judah’ sin brought upon her people, but as our friend said, that would make one of the most depressing reads in the Bible. Yet, I find it hard to believe that God’s purpose in this book is to depress us! Warn us, perhaps; instruct us for sure, but never to depress us. God’s purpose in giving us the Scriptures is to reveal Himself and so as we look through Lamentations, lo and behold, we learn five great truths about the character and nature of God.
I. God is Just – Lamentations 1:18.
A. Did you see what the city of Jerusalem was forced to admit? “The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment.”
1. God is right, and I am wrong.
2. God is never wrong, God is always right. God is always just.
B. The problem arises when we begin to think that somehow God isn’t fair.
1. This was Satan’s lie from the beginning, by suggesting to Adam and Eve that God was holding out on them by prohibiting them from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he was inferring that God wasn’t being fair, that He knew they would be his equals if they just ate.
2. Of course they did eat, and discovered very quickly that God was right, and Satan was wrong.
3. The devastation that befell Jerusalem was a signal of God’s justice.
4. It was the ultimate answer to the lies of the false prophets when they declared “Peace, peace, when there was no peace.”
5. This was a city at loggerheads with God.
6. These were a people who were in an argument with the Almighty, and let us be clear about this, when a person has a fight with God, God is never the one in the wrong.
a. I think of David and how he was angry with God over the death of Uzzah.
b. You remember the story of how the transported the ark from the house of Abinadab, setting it upon a cart, until at last it they travelled over rough terrain, the cart shook, the ark began to slide and Uzzah reached out to save it. Touching that holy object he was immediately slain of God.
c. David was angry with God, in fact the Hebrew suggests je was ”red hot” with rage, he was blazing. As far as he was concerned God was in the wrong.
d. But of course it was not God who was wrong, but David & Uzzah for carrying the ark in a way other than the law prescribed.
C. What did the destruction of Judah convey? It conveyed the righteousness of God, God was right to punish these people, they were wrong to have been so bull headed. Lamentations teaches us that God is just.
II. God Is True – Lamentations 2:17
A. For forty years Jeremiah the prophet, ministering before no fewer than five successive kings of Judah declared that unless there was a change of heart, Judah would be invaded, Jerusalem destroyed and the people taken captive by the Babylonians.
1. For forty years from his message was ignored, not jus ignored but despised and defied.
2. Remember how Jehoiakim shredded and burned the Scriptures?
3. And how Hananiah and other prophets taught in total opposition to Jeremiah.
4. Yet now, as the embers of Jerusalem lay smouldering, the fact that God is true to His Word is there to be seen.
B. God is always faithful to His Word.
1. What he promises He will do, that He will do.
2. What He promises He will be to us, that He will be.
3. Of course we see that in a negative context in Lamentations, but it is equally true in a positive context.
a. In the N.T. we find the apostle John is most concerned that we understand God is true.
b. John 7:18 & 28; 8:26; 1John 5:20; Rev 3:17
c. “Thy word is true from the beginning.” (Psalm 119:160a)
C. God is completely true to His Word.
1. Many people gamble on the hope that He is not, they say He is too loving, too kind, too gracious to judge mankind, that He will never carry through with judgment of sin as revealed in Scripture.
2. Paul said, “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” We can place little stock in anything man has to say about God, but we can absolutely trust everything God has to say about man.
D. Do you want to know how committed God is to the truth?
1. Think on this. For centuries the prophets declared a coming Messiah, we have seen from Genesis right the way through how the suffering of Christ is portrayed.
2. God was ever intent on sending the world a Saviour who would suffer and die for the sins of men.
3. Did He do it? See Romans 8:32.
4. If God is so committed to truth that He would not so much as spare His own Son from Calvary, what makes us believe He will go back on anything else He has said.
5. God’s Word may be trusted implicitly.
III. God Is Love – Lamentations 3:22-23 & 33.
A. Here we are at the very heart of this book, dealing largely with the outcome of God’s judgment upon Jerusalem and what do we find?
1. We find that God is portrayed as a God of compassion and mercy.
2. You see, Jeremiah knew that, although the actions of God were devastating to Jerusalem they were ultimately for the good of His people.
3. God does what He does out of love.
4. The fact that God suffered forty years long and more with these people is indicative of His unwillingness to condemn men.
5. Of course, people mistake that unwillingness as untruthfulness, but as we have already seen God is true to His Word and He will do what He says, but nevertheless His compassionate heart is such that he is in Peter’s words, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2Pet 3:9)
6. God is a reluctant judge, and a ready Saviour, but sadly some men will never heed, never respond to His grace and love and consequently fall foul of His judgment.
7. Judgment when it comes will prove merciless, and far reaching, but even in judgment we realise that God’s mercies have been and are new every morning.
8. Every day is a new day, a new opportunity to do right, to walk with God, and to serve Him.
IV. God Is Sovereign – Lamentations 4:22
A. What I want you to see here is how God places limitations upon suffering.
1. In other words God is completely in control of every situation and circumstance.
2. He tells these people that their troubles are over, his purpose is served, their punishment complete.
3. Turn with me to Revelation 2:10.
a. I want you to see their suffering on three levels.
(i) There is the human level - we can call that misery
(ii) There is the satanic level - we can call that mystery
(iii) There is the Divine level - we can call that ministry
b. And all three levels are on view in these verses, and all three levels are at play in all our sufferings both individually and as a church.
4. Now notice that third level of suffering, and notice the words of the Lord to this suffering church at Smyrna.
a. “Ye shall have tribulation ten days.”
b. Every trial has its limit.
(i) As hard as it may be to believe it when we are in the valley there is an end in sight.
(ii) We will step unto the mountaintop again; there will be better days.
(iii) At Smyrna the trial had only ten more days to run and it was to be spent.
c. How long will you trial or suffering go on? However long God decrees, and not a minute more.
d. Judah suffered for their sins, Smyrna suffered for their sanctification, whatever the cause of our misery, rest assured God is inc control and His will will be done.
V. God Is Eternal – Lamentations 5:19
A. Perhaps this is the most important point of all – God is eternal, and He is building for eternity.
1. Why couldn’t God have just let Judah go? After all they were doing no worse than the nations that surrounded them.
2. Well, remember Israel, the Northern kingdom had already gone.
3. His plan as to produce a Saviour, the corruption and demise of the Nation was not in His interest.
4. The plan of salvation had to be preserved at all costs – the men of Judah were living for the moment, but God was building for eternity.
a. See Jeremiah 1:10
5. It was important to Him to stop the rot, to restore the nation and to stay on track with His plan to bring a Saviour for the world out of Israel.
B. Everything God does, He does with an eye on eternity.
1. He is not limited by time, nor restricted by man’s mortality, His Word, His throne, His power and His glory extend from generation to generation.
Conclusion: Now what have we learned from Jeremiah’s lament? We have been taught that God can use our pain and our sorrow to His own end. That our sufferings are not without purpose. That what ever God allows in our lives is just and right. We may not fully understand the why for’s, but faith accepts that God makes no mistakes. We see that God s true to His word, absolutely faithful, completely trustworthy. We learn that whatever happens to us for good or ill God’s love is unchanging, that we are loved with an everlasting love and that his mercy and compassion endures day after day. We recognise that He is in control. That He has set limits to our pain. That He knows exactly how much medicine to give so as to heal, and sure not to give so much that he poisons our soul. And above all we see that he is at work in our lives, not with an eye to the clock, but with the eye to eternity.
“Lamentation is the most depressing book in the Bible”? Only if we don’t account for the character of God. For Judah, seeing the Lord in their sufferings made the pain worthwhile. And what was true for them is equally true for us. Circumstances change. Feelings change. Good days go and bad days come. But Jesus? He’s always the same. Always right, always true, always loving, always Sovereign, always eternal, no matter what.
