Introduction:
I cannot recall in my 27 years as Pastor a sermon that I preached from the Book of Lamentations until today. Today will be my first. But I believe that are present condition of the world makes Lamentations a good book to preach today as we begin our new series “Even Though”.
I have to say things have been bad the last two years in our country but also in the world we live. First, we had the pandemic, and a day does not go by that you don’t hear a new person coming down with Covid or that another person has died from Covid. And as I am writing this sermon, I just heard that Brett Kavanaugh, a Justice on the Supreme Court, just tested positive for Covid. We can not seem to shake the pandemic.
And then there is our government and the people in Congress just don’t seem to have their act together. It is not just Republican arguing with one another; the democrats can not seem to get it together either. And there is no way that Democrats and Republicans can work together in a bipartisan way.
People are short fused; you hear every day of violence on a plane, or a shooting at school, or a fight that breaks out at a sporting event. And there is all the racial unrest. Instead of seeing ourselves as Americans, we see ourselves as white or black or some other minority. Why cannot we all be Americans?
As we stare down at these problems, we are confronted with two options. The first is to see how bad things really are and to focus on them. And we have every right to focus on them because things are indeed bad.
Or the second option is to decide even though things are bad, I chose to rejoice and trust in my Lord. And that is where Jeremiah is in the Book of Lamentations. Things are bad for Israel. They have been invaded by the Babylonians and the Babylonian has destroyed the land and taken many Israelites into capacity. Jeremiah looks around his hometown and all he can see is pain and destruction. Places are destroyed, people have died, and many were exiled away from their families.
Jeremiah tried to warn his people that they needed to act like the people of God, or this was to occur. But the people were disobedient; they refused to listen to the Word of God as spoken through Jeremiah. So, Jeremiah laments the situation that his homeland is in. And he had every right to lament. Or he can take the second option that even though things are bad, I chose to trust in God. And let’s see what Jeremiah can teach us when he focuses away from the problem and on to God.
Scripture:
Lamentations 3:19-23 (NKJV)
19 Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul still remembers And sinks within me.
21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
22 Through the LORD'S mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Point #1
Have you ever heard someone say this is how I feel, and I cannot do anything about how I feel? We are talking about my feeling, and I have every right to feel how I feel. And that is true, but you don’t have every right not to change those feelings if they don’t represent who you are as a child of God.
19 Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul still remembers And sinks within me.
Jeremiah tells us, let me tell you how I feel. There are two types of people in the world: those who never talk about their feeling and those who tell everybody how they feel. Jeremiah is that second guy. You know what Jeremiah is feeling. He says that he has been afflicted which speaks of his pain and his suffering. His roaming speaks of his confusion. The wormwood and the gall speaks of the bitterness that he feels right this moment because his life has been changed by the Babylonians.
And then he says something that I have experienced once or twice in my own life where my very soul felt like it was beaten down. I had no spiritual anything left in me. Have you ever experienced that spiritual beat down? That is Jeremiah’s condition right this second, but Jeremiah is not going to stay there. And neither should you and I as Christians stay there.
But I know and I am sure you know some Christian or Christians today who have been overwhelmed with pain and suffering in their life and overtaken with such confusion that they don’t know which way to turn. And indeed, bitterness has set in. But unlike Jeremiah, they are going to stay there in their bitterness. They are not going to take that second option.
Didn’t God warn Cain that bitterness would set in, and he chose to ignore God? He chose to let bitterness stay there, and we all know the consequences. But Jermiah was not going to stay there, and we cannot stay there as believers because God tells us plainly it is place, we cannot stay.
Ephesians 4:31 (NKJV)
31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
Hebrews 12:15 (NKJV)
15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.
Point #2
It takes an action on my part to move from bitterness to hope. So many people get stuck in bitterness because that is automatically where your mind is going to go.
21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
Jeremiah says if I just let my mind do its thing, it will automatically go to the pain and the suffering; it will automatically go to the bitterness that I feel. Do nothing, and that is exactly how I will stay. And we know people and that is exactly how they have stayed over the years: bitter.
Have you ever noticed how your mind always goes to the bad things first? Your teenage daughter goes out on a date, and she is supposed to be home for 10:30 pm and now it is 11:00 pm and she is not home, and she is not answering her phone. Your first thought is that she has been in some terrible accident somewhere. It did not go to a logical explanation; it went to a worst-case scenario.
The doctor’s office calls you and tells you that the doctor got the results of the test and that he needs to see you as soon as possible. Your first thought is that I got some dreaded disease, and I don’t have long to live. And what did you do, you went to the worst-case scenario first.
But Jeremiah says that I am not going to stay there. I have a way out. And as a child of God, each one of us has a way out. “This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope.” Jeremiah is going to take an action. I am going to call God into my mind. And with God there is hope.
I love the word that Jeremiah uses “recall”. Jeremiah is demanding his mind to recall God and the hope that He brings. And there are going to be times in our life, we are going to have to demand our mind to recall God and all the great things that he has done.
Maybe the Apostle Paul was thinking about that work we have to do to get out the pain, suffering and bitterness and God in when he wrote 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NKJV)
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
Point #3
Jeremiah teaches us about a tool we need to carry with us in our spiritual toolbox. The tool is the “even though” tool. And you got to keep it handy because you are going to use it a lot. Cannot find it and pain and bitterness will stay with out. Use it and pain and suffering cannot stay in the presence of God’s hope.
22 Through the LORD'S mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Jeremiah is teaching us about the Biblical principle of “even though”. Jeremiah tells us that even though I am suffering; even though I am bitter, even though my soul is bent down, I chose to think about the mercies of the Lord, the compassion of the Lord and the faithfulness of our God.
King David knew this biblical concept. Listen to what he says in Psalm 23:4 (NIV)
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Habakkuk knew this biblical concept. Listen to what he say in Habakkuk 3:17-18 (NKJV)
17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls--
18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
When something happens that is unexpected or expected that brings you pain, you need to pull out the “even though” tool from your toolbox. Jeremiah pulled it out when Jerusalem was in shambles; David pulled it out when he near death; and Habakkuk pulled it out when there was a famine in the land. And you need to pull it out when something happens in your life.
Conclusion:
If you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I am here to tell you that you have that tool. If you don’t know Jesus, you have not acquired the tool yet. How much does that tool cost. It cost Jesus, His life. But to you, if you accept Jesus as your Savior, it cost you nothing.
The altar will be open and if you need to come speak with God, please come.
