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.
1.3 The Temple Is Destroyed
Again, what makes you cry may not make me cry. You may not see the big deal in Jeremiah’s grief – “So what the Temple was destroyed.” When the Temple was destroyed, this was the one place where God met humans on earth. 2 Kings 25 and Jeremiah 52 tell us the story of the Temple’s destruction, but Lamentations gives us the raw emotions. Again, if you want the facts of what happened, you could go to 2 Kings 25 and Jeremiah 52. These two chapters will tell you the story of the Temple’s fall. But it’s Lamentations that capture the emotions of the tragedy.2
1.4 Survey of Chapter 3
As you scan chapter 3, you’ll see that the prophet feels the very hand of God is against him (verse 3). His flesh and skin waste away (verse 4); He dwells in darkness (verse 6); He’s walled in without escape with no place to escape (verse 7). He thinks of God as a bear lying in wait and a lion who is hidden (verse 10).
1.5 King Zedekiah
The king over Israel at this time is a man named Zedekiah. When Babylon captured him, they took him to modern-day Syria. It was there that Zedekiah watched the murder of his sons before they put out his eyes making the last thing, he saw was the death of his sons (2 Kings 25:4-7). No doubt the prophet Jeremiah felt for this 32-year-old father. And Jeremiah remembered the repeated warnings he gave him. No wonder all the way back in verse one, we read:
“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” (Lamentations 3:1-3).
He says he’s torn to pieces as a result and his teeth grind away on gravel (verses 11, 16). And he’s even forgotten what happiness was (verse 17).
1.6 Where You Were
For one generation, you know where you were when Kennedy was assassinated. For another generation, you know where you were when the Towers fell on 9/11. For this generation of Jews, they knew where they were the Temple fell.
Jewish people still read this book every year around mid-July to remember the disaster in 587 BC. Not only was their place of worship destroyed, but God’s people were captured and sent off to live in their enemies’ land. Homes were smashed, lives were ruined, families separated, and hopelessness reigned. No wonder someone put pen to parchment to give voice to their grief.
1.7 Background to Chapter 3
“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).
Now, this isn’t just someone sobbing away in agony. No, you’re reading a thoughtful, strategically composed poem that was intended to vent a people’s grief. The first four chapters of Lamentations are alphabetic acrostics where the lines begin with successive Hebrew letters. Remember there are but 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Every verse starts with a new letter so chapters 1 and 2 each chapter has 22 verses.
The exception is chapter 3 which is a triple-acrostic, which means each letter has 3 verses associated with it. This is why it is 66 verses. Chapter 3 is the most tightly constructed. Its 66 verses contain 22 clusters of 3 verses each. Each of the 3 verses begins with the successive letters.3 As a form of art, the poetry in Lamentations 3 is at its peak. It’s worth your time reading the entire book and all of chapter 3 later on your own time. Again, you’re reading a thoughtful, strategically composed poem that was intended to vent a people’s grief. You’re sensing Jeremiah’s grief as he describes it to you from A to Z.
1.8 A Jewish Grandmother
There are times in our lives when there is so much grief, that we cannot imagine what someone is going through. A Jewish lady was riding with me when I drove limousines back in my seminary days (think Uber today). She told me a story of the Holocaust where the Nazis were marching her grandmother along with numerous other prisoners. They marched a long way with dreadful conditions including no food. The grandmother was old and wasn’t keeping up with the pace the cruel soldiers demanded. So, one said to her, “You fall behind like a horse so I will treat you like a horse.” He shot her grandmother according to the testimony as one would put down a horse. There are no words for such pain and grief. No words.
Again, feel the hurt behind these words: “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).
1. A Grief that Is Felt
2. A Love that Isn’t Fantasy
“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…” (Lamentations 3:21-22).
2.1 A Change You Don’t See Coming
The turn is really remarkable in verse 22. You just don’t see it coming. You’d think someone suffering with this level of grief would be inconsolable for days on end. If you were to ask me, “How’s so and so doing after the events of the past week,” I might say to you, “There’s nothing we can do. They are just brokenhearted despite everything we have tried to do.” If this were a football game, you’d turn it off because your team is so far behind! You wouldn’t find out the sudden, dramatic change until later.
2.2 God’s Love in a Gas Chamber
The startling fact about this announcement is that it is made against one of the bleakest backgrounds in the Old Testament. It would be as if someone had stood up in one of the prison camps of the Third Reich and announced loudly: “Great is God’s faithfulness and His love!” You’d hear a scornful sneer of every destitute soul confined to those barracks to tell you to sit down and shut up.4
2.3 Steadfast Love of the Lord
The words “The steadfast love” at the beginning of verse 22 are rich beyond compare. Your translation may have “lovingkindness” or “steadfast love.” The word is way too rich for any one English word. It is extremely difficult to get any one or even two English words that completely encompass the whole idea. Based on the nouns that hesed is often linked with we may say it includes ideas of love or compassion, grace, truth and faithfulness, goodness, and forgiveness.
2.3.1 OT Hall of Fame Experience Hesed
This word hesed appears about 250 times in the Old Testament. And all the great people of the Old Testament speak about hesed, the steadfast love of the Lord. Naomi speaks of God’s hesed after the death of her husband and her sons (Ruth 1:8). David talks about God’s hesed even as he fled his son, Absalom who sought to kill him (2 Samuel 15:20). And Moses talks about God’s hesed even when God said, “I cannot be around these rebellious people one more minute” (Exodus 34:6). Now, none of these folks speak about God’s great love when they are having their morning coffee on the back of some fancy hotel overlooking a peaceful mountain of snow after they hit the lottery, while everyone likes their family’s picture on Instabook ?.
2.3.2 What Does Hesed Mean?
No, this word describes a “when the chips are down” kind of love. This is the best kind of love you could imagine. God shows Moses, “the Lord is … abounding in faithful love and truth…” (Exodus 34:6b). Did you know that God is a hoarder? Like avalanches of snow piled high along the roads during a Colorado blizzard, God has hoarded His faithful love in Heaven’s storage rooms. It is God’s “hesed” that chases His children around the back alleys of life: “Surely goodness and mercy (hesed) shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6).5 God has a “chase you down” kind of love for His children. God takes pleasure in people who pin their hopes to his steadfast love: “but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love (hesed)” (Psalm 147:11).
At your worst moments in life, you can experience God’s steadfast love.
2.4 Call This to Mind
“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end…” (Lamentations 3:21b-22a).
Note the language to the end of verse 21 carefully, in the midst of his tragedy, he calls to mind the hope. It’s a mental exercise to do this and it doesn’t come naturally. The root of the word thankful is thoughtful.6 The idea is that if one thinks about their blessings they would be grateful for their blessings. Thinking always precedes thanking. The command to be thankful is a command to stop and think about how we have been blessed. We give thanks because God’s performance always matches His promise. You have to call this to mind. No matter the “obstacle course” your sinful life presents the Lord, God's unrivaled love is so powerful, He will pursue you.
2.5 New Every Morning
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).
Every morning when you wake up, His mercies are fresh. You may not drink coffee every morning, you may not exercise each and every morning, and you not even check social media every single morning. But you can count on this: His mercies never come to an end. His steadfast love never ceases. The Bible says that God’s mercies are new, each and every single morning.
2.5.1 Back Up?
Your bank needs the FDIC to stand behind it in case it fails. Your favorite team needs a deep bench in case your favorite player is hurt. Your phone is backed up on the cloud in case it’s destroyed. He doesn’t need the FDIC. No one is about to check in at the scorer’s table to relieve Him. And there’s no cloud somewhere that has God’s brain backed up just in case. God doesn’t need any backup.
God’s mercies are new, each and every single morning. If this world were to go on to exist until 4046, God’s mercies are new, each and every single morning. Period. Full stop.
2.5.2 Faith
PAUSE now.
I want you to look right here as I ask you a serious question. Can you see God’s gracious character despite the tragedy you are experiencing? Can you see with the eye of faith God’s gracious, steadfast love when your children die, your bank account is empty, and it seems God is a lion hiding the grass to devour you. That’s the essence of faith for “…faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1b).
Do you have the eyes of faith to see past your pain and into God’s rich character? Can you straight to the cross of Jesus where despite humanity’s worst, the Son pushes to the very end to achieve salvation for all of His children?
2.6 Have You Fired God?
If you’re camped out in hopelessness this morning or you know someone that is camped at the edge of despair, let me gently push back against you for a moment. Again, let me push back against you. Let me ask you something: If God were your employee, would have fired Him for a bad performance? Many of you have prayed about some injustice in your life, you received no answer, and you gave up on God.
A young lady told him that one of her parents was murdered and she finally forgave God. Now, it may have been a slip of the tongue. But she struggled with God because of the death of her father.
Again, let me ask you something: If God were your employee, would have fired Him for a bad performance? “I used to believe in God, or maybe I still believe in God, and this happened to me and that happened to me, so I have little use for a God who just won’t even listen to my prayers.” You effectively fired God for a bad performance. Even the best people are tempted to fire God for seemingly bad performance. Some of you have quit on God. Let me confront you with a truth: if you fired Him then you had God on retainer; you weren’t seeking God.7 He didn’t come through for you because you hired God to accomplish YOUR agenda rather than the other way around.
2.7 Wait on the Lord to Come Through
“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 3:24-25).
This morning you are surrounded by seasoned saints who can tell you how the Lord came through for them. You could test this message right now by asking no more than 5 people near you, “Has the Lord come through for you in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and two strikes?” No matter the addiction you’re experiencing, will you wait on the Lord to come through? Your future is bleak with no real options – still, will you wait on the Lord to come through? The diagnosis isn’t good from the doctors – will you wait on the Lord to come through? Will you turn to the Lord with the eyes of faith and say, “I see good coming from you. My soul seeks you.”
2.8 Suffering for Us
The individual who suffered in our story was Jeremiah. He suffered as a representative for God’s people. He was THE man who was delegated by God to experience the suffering of all of God’s people. Throughout chapter 3, he moves from “I” and “my” to “we” and “us.” But in the end, Jeremiah isn’t the final one to suffer for us. One other did at Calvary. He suffered for your sins.
Would you bow your head as we pray?
Endnotes
1 https://www.worldvision.org.uk/about/blogs/most-popular-bible-verses-in-every-country/; accessed November 13, 2023.
2 William Sanford La Sor, David Allan Hubbard, and Frederic William Bush, Old Testament Survey: The Message, Form, and Background of the Old Testament, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996), 526.
3 Beginning in verse 19, the line begins with the Hebrew letter Zayin, or our Z. Beginning in verse 22, the line begins with the Hebrew letter, Heth, often translated as our letter H.
4 Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Grief and Pain in the Plan of God: Christian Assurance and the Message of Lamentations (Fearn, UK: Christian Focus Publications, 2004), 82.
5 This is the English Standard Version.
6 https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/01/thankful-and-thinkful.html; accessed November 7, 2019.
7 I owe this language to Tim Keller and his sermon, “The Power of God,” February 13, 2011, in The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).
