I hope that you had a good year. We can say that not everyone had a good year. Some lost a loved one. Others were touched by the tragic consequences of war. Many lost jobs and went into financial ruin. Many have come through this last year asking, what hope is there for me?
If that is your question, then you are not alone. Some people have come through this last year asking what hope is there for me? If that is your question, then you are not alone. Think for a moment how Jeremiah the prophet felt when he writes the book of Lamentations.
After forty years of discouraging ministry and personal hardship his nation collapses. The city of Jerusalem has fallen. His nation has been destroyed and the temple demolished. Not just any temple but the most costly temple in all of history, Solomon’s Temple.
Everything important to Israel has been knocked out from under them. The Hebrew Word for the first book of Lamentation is How? How deserted lies the city. How like a widow is she.
How could God let this happen? Has God abandoned me? Is God still all powerful? Do we believe what Nebuchadnezzar says that his god’s are more powerful than God Almighty? These are the same question we might ask when we lose all hope.
In all this confusion and pain is there some way we can see God working though it all? How do we respond when all the securities in our life are destroyed? Lamentation does more than ask the question, how? Lamentations gives of the profound answer.
Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
20 My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
21 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;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD. (Lamentations 3:19-26)
Here is a message, though in the midst of despair, is of joy and hope. It tells us that no matter what our situation, when we feel defeated, there is victory. Where there is personal suffering, there is relief. When you experience loss there is abundant gain.
Those who sincerely trust God there is hope for the future. There is promise for what lies ahead. Here is Jeremiah the weeping prophet proclaiming hope in those who trust God. Like the Psalmist proclaimed, when anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. (Psalm 94:14)
For many it seems like, as it did for Jeremiah, that the bottom has dropped out. Everything is gone in an instant. It could be you are on the mountaintop and then a health crises brings everything crashing down. A family crisis can change the whole outlook in an instant.
In Jeremiah’s day there were two groups of people suffering. One was the majority who were suffering as the consequence of sin and being away from God. There were those suffering like Jeremiah despite how faithful they were to God. Yet the circumstances of the day engulfed him.
Despite this there is the outlook of hope. We see God’s love bringing this hope.
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end; (Lamentations 3:22)
As dark as the times and as intense as the suffering was God’s love was there. It was there for Jeremiah, and he proclaimed this hope to his suffering people. The love of God is still there for you. The love and compassion of God never fails.
When we really embrace the compassion and love of God our deepest laments can turn to hope and joy.
Maybe this season has left you so low that you don’t even have the energy to talk or think straight. Maybe the dark clouds are so thick you can’t imagine seeing the beauty of the light of day. When you become overwhelmed in this way then you need to look to God’s love.
Even if you have reached rock bottom that is just when the loving compassion of God can reach down and pull you out of the dark valley. The great love and compassion of God are new every morning.
The days ahead can be the greatest of your life if you allow God’s love to fill your life. It takes more than a resolution. It takes God’s love. What you might need to do is to find a place to get alone. Maybe you can find your quiet in God’s creation. Do find a place where you can pray and read God’s Word.
When you are spending time with God, his love can replace your despair to hope. It is what will be the turning point for your whole life. It is a new chapter and what an appropriate time to experience new the love of the Lord.
It is the time to turn to the faithfulness of God. That is where Jeremiah found hope. He said, great is your faithfulness. That brought renewal to his life. How can you know afresh of the faithfulness of God? You can read your Bible and read of the goodness of God and the riches of God’s grace. You will find it when you read the Word. You can find your joy in seeing what God is doing in history and how the Lord allows us to be part of it.
The key to a renewed hope, a renewed experience of God’s love and a renewed trust in God’s faithfulness is your renewed relationship with God. This will make a difference.
The mercies of God never cease. Even the weeping prophet Jeremiah could see that God’s mercies flow all the time. We may find ourselves in a dark valley, but the mercies of God never end. They are new every morning.
Sometimes we need to find our contentment in the mercies of God and not our circumstances. That is when we need to wait on God. That is when we put our hope in God.
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD. (Lamentations 3:25-26)
It is our devotional life that will put every dark moment into perspective that God has got this. We can trust him when we see his hand moving and when we can’t see it.
It is amazing that all the difficulties did not blind Jeremiah to the great faithfulness of God. He trusted in God and for the salvation of the Lord. Even John the Baptist had to ask for reassurance that Jesus really was the Christ when John faced the pressure of being in prison. That Jeremiah can keep his perspective in God in the circumstances he experienced is amazing.
There was something else good happening as a result of the great faithfulness of God, but Jeremiah would not have been aware of it. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had been recently carried off to Babylon along with Daniel. Jeremiah wrote “It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young” (verse 27). These young men were bearing the yoke and standing for God. The four of them resolved not to defile themselves come what may. Jeremiah could see a lot of things from his prison cell writing this book but he could not see that. But still he knew God is faithful.
There is a place where is is believed Jeremiah wrote Lamentations called Jeremiah’s Grotto. I went to visit the place also the place of the skull, Golgotha the site of Jesus crucifixion. Almost in passing the guide said do you see that building to the right. He said, that is Jeremiah’s Grotto where Jeremiah was held in a prison cell and wrote the book of Lamentations when the city was in siege.
There are all kinds of thoughts that flood through my mind of Jeremiah looking at Golgotha, Calvary the place Jesus would be crucified when he wrote this lamentation. OK I am very aware that we cannot be sure of the exact locations of so many of the Bible sites including exactly where Jeremiah was in prison when he wrote lamentations.
But even though it is not sure this was the spot I am going to hang on to this one. It is just too cool if Jeremiah who wrote brilliant prophesies about the coming Messiah had a prison cell with a Calvary view. Even if he could not really see the place of the skull from his cell we do know for sure he had a prophet’s view of Calvary in his heart while he was in the cell. Jeremiah had the vision of the messianic hope.
See also: https://bradbeaman.wordpress.com/2016/04/04/faith-hope-love-and-anguish/
In the midst of difficulties, you can know tears of inexpressible joy. There is hope for all who respond to God through Jesus Christ.
