Jeremiah penned down his grief after his nation and city Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 586 BC.
• He expresses his sorrows over 5 laments in this book. The people suffered because they have sinned against God and rejected Him.
• God is faithful. If the people would learn their lesson, repent and seek God, they would find the hope and the help they need.
Chapter 3 describes the afflictions Jeremiah experiences.
• 3:1 “I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.”
• From vv.1-18 Jeremiah describes the pain and suffering that he and his people has gone through.
• And then in 3:19-20 he says, “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.”
When afflictions come, we can become very discouraged.
• We feel like God is against us. We feel like we are in the dark and there is no way out.
• We feel like something heavy is pressing on us. We cannot find release.
• Our prayers are not being answered. We feel like giving up because our hope is gone.
Jeremiah would have ended up in despair, but we thank God he did not.
• He did something remarkable in verse 21. 3:21-22 “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.”
• One THOUGHT changed everything. Jeremiah chose to CALL TO MIND something - the unchanging love of God. God is faithful, and His compassions never fail.
• This thought stopped the downward spiral that his emotions were taking him.
Dear bro/sis, it is alright to be honest with God and express our sorrows like Jeremiah did, but it is not alright to stay there. Don’t let our pain and disappointment holds us bondage.
• Jeremiah did not choose to stay in despair or wallow in self-pity. Rather, having poured out his sorrows, he chose to think about God and His promises.
• The suffering was God’s lesson for His people who had sinned. But God did not reject them as His people. The father, who disciplines the child, still loves the child.
It is very important what you allow yourself to think about.
• What are you always thinking about? Are we always thinking about ourselves, and our problems?
• Rom 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will.”
• Have you thought of God and what He says? When was the last time you give a thought about God? Do you think about what God says every day?
Jeremiah shifted his focus from his suffering to God. He did it deliberately.
• Choose to remember God. Recall a verse. Sing a song. Think of His goodness.
• Remember a time when God showed His grace and mercy to you. Push God to the front even when you do not feel like doing it.
Lam 3:22-23 tell us Jeremiah remembers these FOUR aspects about God.
(1) God’s great love, (2) God’s unending compassions (compassions never fail)
(3) God’s daily blessings (they are new every morning), and
(4) God’s faithfulness (great is your faithfulness).
Why am I still living today? Jeremiah’s answer: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed.”
• We could have perished with the rest, but we did not. We are still alive today because God has been gracious.
• Things could be worse if not for His love, His grace and mercy.
His compassions never fail. The word ‘compassions’ is in plural in Hebrew.
• God has not ceased loving us. Rev Koh Soon Meng preached a few weeks ago, God’s love has never left you. You may feel that way or think that way, but His love for you has not changed.
• It keeps coming, it never ends. His compassion will not run out.
They are new every morning. It’s like this, you wake up one morning and find your rice pot filled with rice, or your car filled with petrol, or your fridge filled with food?
• This happens every morning. It wake up and your lack is being filled up.
• That’s the way it is with God’s mercies, Jeremiah said. You can never use them up.
This is how God provided manna for His people in the wilderness when they left Egypt.
• God sent it every day. It cannot be exhausted. The people were instructed to gather as much as they wanted, because it would always be more than enough. He is a ‘more than enough’ God.
• God’s blessings come in a buffet, not an ala carte meal.
• The people do not have to worry about tomorrow. In fact, God tells them not to save it for tomorrow because maggots would come and spoil the manna. God wants them to trust Him.
• The next morning, He will supply fresh manna. They are new every morning.
Every morning, they will see God’s faithfulness. They will see manna on the ground.
• Every day they will see that until they do not need it anymore.
• And that’s 40 years later - Exo 16:35 “The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.”
Don’t worry too much about tomorrow. Trust God. He will supply what you need tomorrow.
• Tomorrow is in His hands. Prov 19:21 “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” Trust Him. He knows best.
• We don’t have to live on yesterday’s blessings. God provides you new strength, new mercies, and new blessings.
Great is His faithfulness. God did not destroy them for good, because He is faithful.
• He had promised Abraham that He would make a nation from his descendants and this was His nation.
• He had promised Moses that He would free them from Egypt and give them a land.
• He had promised Joshua that He would bring them in and establish them.
• He has promised David that He would build them a nation and a kingdom.
• God would not utterly destroy this people but He would discipline them for their sin.
• God is faithful. He now punishes them, but He will not destroy them for good.
Jeremiah knows God has not changed. When the people repent, God will be there to save them.
• Therefore Jeremiah says, “I will wait for Him.” (v.24) Lam 3:25-26 “The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”
Roger Simms shared this testimony in a book.
May 7 the day Roger was discharged from the army. He couldn’t get a bus so he decided to hitchhike his way home. Carry his heavy suitcase and in his army uniform, he flashed for the on-coming car. It was a luxurious, black Cadillac, so he did not expect it to stop. To his surprise the car stopped.
He thanked the well-dressed man and entered the front seat. He was heading to Chicago so it was along the way. “I have a business there. My name is Hanover.”
After talking about many things, Roger, a Christian, felt a need to share with this 50-odd-year old successful businessman about Jesus Christ. But he kept putting it off, until he realized he was just 30 minutes from his home. It was now or never. So Roger cleared his throat and said, "Mr Hanover, I would like to talk to you about something very important." He then proceeded to explain how his life has been changed by Christ, the way of salvation, and finally asking Mr Hanover if he would like to receive Christ as his Saviour.
To Roger’s surprise, the man pulled over to the side of the road. Roger thought he was angry and wanted to ask him to get out of his car. But the businessman bowed his head and said he wanted to pray. So he received Christ, and then thanked Roger. “This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.”
Five years went by, Roger married, had a two-year-old boy, and a business of his own. Packing his suitcase for a business trip to Chicago, he found the small, white business card Hanover had given him 5 years before. In Chicago he looked up Hanover Enterprises, the company Mr Hanover works in.
A receptionist told him it was impossible to see him now, but he could see Mrs Hanover. A little confused as to what was going on, he was ushered into a lovely office and found himself facing a woman in her fifties. She extended her hand and asked, “You knew my husband?”
Roger told how her husband had given him a ride 5 years ago. She asked, “Can you tell me when that was?”
“It was May 7, the day I was discharged from the army.” He went on to share what they talk about and how her husband prayed to receive Christ into his life.
Mrs Hanover began to weep. Roger was surprised. She said, “I had prayed for my husband’s salvation for years. I believed God would save him.”
“And where is your husband?” Roger asked.
“He’s dead. He was in a car accident after he let you out of the car. He never got home. You see - I thought God had not kept His promise."
She cried and then added, “I stopped living for God 5 years ago because I thought He had not kept His word!”
... J. Kirk Johnston, Why Christians Sin, Discovery House, 1992, p. 39-41.
Her husband got to know Jesus Christ before the accident. He was saved.
• She did not know that. She was angry with God and left the church.
• God has actually heard and answered her prayer.
Very often, we do not know what God is doing today.
• He is a faithful God. He loves us and cares for us today. We can trust Him.
• His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.
You need to put your trust in Jesus Christ today. We will not stay here forever.
• When we pass on, we need to know where we are going.
• God has prepared a heaven for us, but you need to acknowledge Jesus as your Saviour.
• He died for your sin. You are forgiven. When you believe in Jesus, you’ll receive the gift of eternal life.
• Pray and ask Jesus to come into your life to be your Saviour and Lord today.
Let us close with this song – ‘The Steadfast Love of the Lord’.
