“This hurts me more than it hurts you.” Are those words familiar to you? Do they bring back memories from your childhood? I don’t know if your dad ever spoke those words to you, but my dad said these words more frequently than should ever have been necessary. And I readily admit that I gave him ample reason to say those words. As a child, I questioned how he could possibly feel greater pain than I would feel from the switching I was about to receive, but it was impossible for me to understand what he meant by that statement until I had children of my own. Then, I understood what my dad had meant when he uttered those words.
Though administering corporal punishment is controversial in modern society, the use of such punishment as a teaching aid for behaviour is a sound biblical concept. For instance, among the Proverbs are verses advocating judicious discipline such as these which are found among the Proverbs:
“Whoever spares the rod hates his son,
but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.”
[PROVERBS 13:24]
“Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,
but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.”
[PROVERBS 22:15]
“The rod and reproof give wisdom,
but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.”
[PROVERBS 29:15]
Punishment for the sake of punishment, especially when that punishment is administered to those we profess to love, is reprehensible! It is worse than meaningless because it serves only to drive a wedge between the formation of a lasting relationship. Punishment must have purpose, or it is merely sadistic, cruel, and wicked. However, when punishment flows from love, the compassion with which it is administered will strengthen the bond between the one administering punishment and the one punished.
And that is the situation when God disciplines His people. His people never have to ask, “Why is God doing this?” We may, indeed, ask why we are being disciplined, but inevitably, we know the reason we are disciplined. And Israel knew why God was giving the nation over to their enemies in the days in which Jeremiah prophesied.
All nations that are under the heavy hand of divine wrath understand they are suffering because of their own wickedness, but that nation which was founded on righteous principles of faith in the Living God will especially understand when God’s judgement is unleashed that they are experiencing the consequence of opposing the True and Living God, and their chastisement will be all the more painful for that knowledge.
I AM THE MAN WHO HAS SEEN AFFLICTION [v. 1] —
“I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of his wrath.”
[LAMENTATIONS 3:1]
Why should Jeremiah write of his pain? He had not turned his back on the LORD; he had faithfully proclaimed the Word of the LORD, warning the people of pending judgement and pleading with both high and low to turn again to the LORD. Yet here we witness him crying out in pain at what he is witnessing and what he is experiencing together with those who had brought this judgement upon the nation through their own sinful choices.
You may recall something that the Apostle to the Gentiles wrote concerning the reason God included accounts of divine judgement in the Word. Paul was instructing the saints gathered as the Church of God in Corinth, when he wrote, “I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
“Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.’ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” [1 CORINTHIANS 10:1-13].
The Lord has included accounts of the disobedience of His people to teach us some necessary lessons. First, we need to acknowledge the sinfulness of the heart. Elsewhere, Paul speaks of sin as being sinful beyond measure [see ROMANS 7:13], indicating that we must not attempt to treat sin as harmless. Sin caused the death of the Saviour, and that makes sin especially dreadful! God, speaking through Jeremiah, warns,
“The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
‘I the LORD search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.’”
[JEREMIAH 17:9-10]
If this is the case for my heart, then I need to be wary of following my own heart since I am susceptible to being deceived. The accounts that speak of the failure of our spiritual forebears serve to warn me not to lean on my own wisdom.
Again, in seeing the way the Lord deals with sin in the life of His people reminds me that God is holy. I must not presume against Him, thinking that I can somehow live without endeavouring to honour Him. Because my Father is holy, I must know that He will not tolerate wickedness in my own life. Has not God commanded us, “Preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” [1 PETER 1:13-21].
Another reason to include the accounts of God’s discipline of His people is to encourage us to excel in righteousness. “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.’
“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
“Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears” [HEBREWS 12:3-17].
With these examples from the past, understand that the Lord is encouraging us to draw on His strength rather than thinking that we can stand in our own strength. The Lord is warning us through these examples that we are destined for a fall when we imagine our strength will be enough to withstand the evil one. With this warning, He is pointing to His strength as being sufficient for any situation we may encounter. This is but an iteration of the words of the Wise Man,
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones.”
[PROVERBS 3:5-8]
There is yet this warning to the godless among the nations: if God held His ancient people to account, how much more will He punish the wicked nations for their sinful actions. This is a message that the nations of North America will do well to learn. Do you recall the stern words recorded as the Psalmist has written in the Second Psalm?
“Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
‘Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.’
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
‘As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.’”
[PSALM 2:1-6]
You will no doubt recall that the Psalm concludes with this admonition,
“Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
[PSALM 2:12]
Wise counsel that! Let the people take note. Indeed, let the leaders of our nation take note of this warning and act with wisdom.
In our text, we witness the writer confess that though the judgement inflicted on the nation was deserved, the pain of judgement was keenly felt by the godly. The writer, whom I take to be Jeremiah, was not being personally judged. But the pain he felt at witnessing the devastation visited on the people of God was very real and very intense. I’ve said previously, and it merits repeating, the pain felt by God’s people when He judges the nation is very real.
We who follow the Master grieve at the devastation visited on the nation in which we live. Our hearts will be deeply moved at the pain experienced by our friends, by our colleagues, and by our family members. Though we know that their own sinful condition will have brought judgement down upon their own heads, there will be no consolation in knowing this because our hearts are filled with the love of God. We know the words recorded are true when the Bible declares, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” [JOHN 3:16], and in the same way we hold His love in our hearts.
The Lord GOD, speaking through the Prophet Ezekiel, reveals the reality of His heart when He must at last send judgement upon the wicked, when he says, “As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel” [EZEKIEL 33:11]? Just so, the child of God takes no pleasure in saying, “I told you so.” We knew the Lord is holy and that His patience will not extend indefinitely into the future. We knew that God must judge national sin, and that no nation dare imagine that the past makes it immune from God’s righteous demands. Therefore, we warned that judgement is coming, though we took no pleasure in issuing that warning. In fact, just speaking the warning filled our heart with anxiety and pain.
It is essential that we understand that the Lord God is gracious, but He is just. Speaking through Isaiah we witness God’s heart when Isaiah writes,
“The LORD waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.”
[ISAIAH 30:18]
And I would do a grave disservice to the Lord should I fail to point to the teaching we are provided through the words the Apostle Peter penned when he wrote, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” [2 PETER 3:9].
Christ does not seek the destruction of the lost, but His holiness demands that all sin must be judged and His justice demands an accounting from all who practise wickedness. Christians must put into practise His teaching, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” [1 TIMOTHY 2:1-4].
The writer of the Letter to Hebrew Christians was assuredly correct in writing, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant” [HEBREWS 12:11a]. Discipline is meant to be painful so it will be corrective, so that it will be remembered. And judgement, because it will restrict freedoms and bring devastation, will inevitably prove painful in the extreme for all on whom thar judgement falls. We must never lose sight of the truth that God does not delight in inflicting pain; He seeks to direct His own people into paths of righteousness, and He is holding the wicked to account.
There is the vague perception that ultimately the wicked will be compelled to stand before the righteous Judge of the Universe—and they shall. Indeed, we know that “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” [PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11].
The confusion people hold is introduced into the equation when they begin to ask who the wicked are that must appear before the Righteous Judge. People assume that they are nice, and therefore they will not be judged as wicked. Few of us are capable of seeing that the pursuit of our own desires is the stuff that invites divine judgement. And we are complacent with the thought that the life we live, and culture in which we carry out our mundane, pedestrian activities, is the epitome of niceness, the best possible society. Comfortable with what we know, we want to assign others to the category of wicked, though we are incapable of seeing ourselves as wicked or evil. We forget that societies are composed of individuals; and if the individuals comprising a particular society are focused on fulfilling their own desires, especially if those desires are not aligned with the will of God, then that society is a godless society.
We have a vivid description of that judgement of the lost that shall take place. The Revelator has written, “I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” [REVELATION 20:11-15].
The books are the eternal record of the manner in which people have conducted their life. What is written therein becomes the basis for judgement. This is not the first time the books are mentioned. Daniel writes,
“A stream of fire issued
and came out from before [the Ancient of Days];
a thousand thousands served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened.”
[DANIEL 7:10]
Whether one stands in that awful assize will be determined by whether their name is written in yet another book, which is identified as “the Book of Life.” This book is mentioned earlier in the Apocalypse when the Risen Lord of Glory confesses, “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels” [REVELATION 3:5].
No one enters Heaven unless their name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Writing of the city which he saw coming down out of the heavens, John testified, “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life” [REVELATION 21:22-27]. Did you see what is written in that final verse of the pericope? The condition for entering the city of God is that one’s name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. All else that is recorded is for judgement after one is either received into the city or eternally excluded from the city.
If the lost are yet to be judged, and they are judged by what is written in the Book, then it should not be surprising that nations are held to account in this present time. The nations are composed of individuals, and if the culture acquiesces to that which offends the holiness of Almighty God, nothing is left except judgement if God is God. Will Canada risk daring God to act by embracing wickedness? Will the nation risk the future by gambling that God does not exist? Or if He does exist, that He is of no consequence?
Throughout the first eighteen verses of this third chapter, the writer details what God has done. He doesn’t speak mere theoretical conditions—he is specific. And he speaks of the impact on his life. He doesn’t speak of what the Babylonians had done—he speaks of what God has done. The nations of the West will speak of drought, of storms, of terrorists, of everything except what the Lord has done. And make no mistake, when judgement comes, though God can use any agency He chooses, we will understand that what has happened is because the Lord has judged. And what will be forgotten by many is that we who love the Lord will feel the pain deeply because we love deeply. We love our nation, and we love our neighbours, and we love our families—and we will feel deeply the pain they are experiencing. The intensity of the Christian’s pain will be magnified over that felt by the lost, and that is because we dare love as Christ has loved us. It is true that, “We love because he first loved us” [1 JOHN 4:19].
REMEMBER MY PAIN, O LORD [v. 19] —
Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
[LAMENTATIONS 3:19]
Because our hearts are filled with the love of Christ, we love with the love He pours out on us; and we also have the capacity to turn to Him, a capacity that is not afforded to the lost. No doubt lost people pray, but the prayers of the redeemed are heard.
In this vein, we witness the writer as he cries out to the LORD, pleading with God to look upon the pain he feels, to witness the fact that he is driven from the stability and comfort that he has known, and especially to note the bitterness that now fills his life. Where else would one turn when life turns sour? The Lord had been saying this, and now it was time for the wounded saint to cry out. God had cried out to the nation,
“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
over its branches.”
[JEREMIAH 6:9]
Knowing what was coming because the Lord had spoken in his ear, Jeremiah cried out,
“To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
they cannot listen;
behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.
Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD;
I am weary of holding it in.”
[JEREMIAH 6:10-11a]
The Prophet was declaring that the fact that he was informed of what was coming left him exhausted. Translating the acts of the Lord to our present generation is emotionally draining because we love our nation, And we love those with whom we interact each day. And you know very well that your concern for the nation will drive you to either determine that the cause is lost, or to exhaust yourself in trying to alert those who love most deeply to the danger they face.
Then, once again the LORD begins to speak, saying,
“Pour it out upon the children in the street,
and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
both husband and wife shall be taken,
the elderly and the very aged.
Their houses shall be turned over to others,
their fields and wives together,
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land.”
…
“For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
[JEREMIAH 6:11b-15]
God sent Jeremiah to warn the people. The LORD charged the Prophet with these words, “Go stand in the courtyard of the LORD’s temple. Speak out to all the people who are coming from the towns of Judah to worship in the LORD’s temple. Tell them everything I command you to tell them. Do not leave out a single word. Maybe they will pay attention and each of them will stop living the evil way they do. If they do that, then I will forgo destroying them as I had intended to do because of the wicked things they have been doing. Tell them that the LORD says, ‘You must obey me; you must live according to the way I have instructed you in my laws. You must pay attention to the exhortations of my servants the prophets. I have sent them to you over and over again. But you have not paid any attention to them. If you do not obey me, then I will do to this temple what I did to Shiloh. And I will make this city an example to be used in curses by people from all the nations on the earth’” [JEREMIAH 26:2-6 NET BIBLE, 2nd].
The Lord declared that there was a national cost to the wickedness of a given society. That culture, that nation that does wicked things, approving of wicked acts, is defying the Living God. And people must know that there must come a day when the Lord says, “Enough! I am weary of your deeds; I cannot tolerate this evil any longer.” And when that awful day comes, the Lord will surrender that nation to the desires of the people. There will be no remedy for what is about to happen.
Looking back at Israel, the Psalmist speaks on behalf of the Lord, testifying,
“My people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.”
[PSALM 81:11-12]
Perhaps you imagine that it is not terrifying for a people when God abandons them to their own desires, but there are few events more terrifying than to be abandoned by God. When the fallen desires of a culture become the driving force for that culture, there is scant hope for recovery. When the people of God grow silent, watching society ridicule godliness, who is left to plead for God and to point to the ancient landmarks? And I fear western society, the nations of the West, have already made the choice to desert the paths of righteousness to fulfil what we have convinced ourselves the people want. That means that no further protection from the Holy One can be available for that nation, no more blessing that can be poured out on the people since God has withdrawn His goodness, no grace is possible for those who lead the nation.
The tragedy of this condition is that those driving the culture to rush with increasing speed down the path of societal destruction is a small minority. To be sure, that minority is incredibly vocal, but they don’t even approximate anything approaching a sizable proportion of the population. The reason western society moves inexorably toward this certain confrontation with Holy God is that there is no voice speaking out to say, “Stop!” The preachers who should declare the righteous acts of God have busied themselves with issues that cannot change hearts, the people of God have allowed themselves to be silenced out of fear that they will be called bigoted or unkind, and the mass of the population are unconcerned.
So long as stores are filled with tawdry goods manufactured by slave labour in China, so long as Chinese manufactured medications with questionable safety records are available for prescription, and so long as the government keeps sending cheques that are of ever decreasing value, no one will complain loudly. We Christians, and to a surprising extent this is true of those in the world as well, are conditioned to isolate ourselves from the progress of the world toward disaster. And so long as we can be isolated, we hope nothing bad will happen. But we are willingly ignorant of the fact that when bad things happen, we suffer with those who are the cause of the tragedy.
Let’s look at culture from thirty-thousand feet. We have just such a picture provided as Paul reviews Roman culture, looking out on the city of Corinth. He wrote the Letter to the Romans while in Corinth. It seems reasonable to conclude that he derived his view of that ancient culture through observing life in that ancient city.
The Apostle begins by noting that the rapid descent in oblivion and irrelevance of that ancient culture, a descent that parallels the descent into spiritual insignificance of our own culture, with an initial refusal to honour God as God. Paul states the initial movement in these words: “What can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” [ROMANS 1:19-23].
From the point, culture began—and it begins—a continual movement away from doing what is righteous and good. And at each step of the process, we witness God surrendering that culture to their own desires. Repeatedly, we witness the Spirit of Christ prompting the Apostle to say, “God gave them up…” [see e.g. ROMANS 1:24, 26, 28]. The capacity of the heart for evil is almost infinite—nothing can stop mankind’s mad plunge into wickedness until at last God brings the wild drive to find the moral and spiritual bottom to an end. Therefore, at last, Paul lists a dark catalogue of life without the restraint of righteousness, concluding with the dark assessment, “Although they know God’s just requirement—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do these things but even applaud others who practice them” [ROMANS 1:32 ISV]. This is the final stop on the road to cultural oblivion. There are no other stops after this. And this is what causes such intense pain for the follower of the Risen Saviour.
THE STEADFAST LOVE OF THE LORD NEVER CEASES [vv. 20-30] — In the midst of judgement, the Prophet cries out a powerful affirmation of God’s character.
“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.’”
[LAMENTATIONS 3:19-24]
And that should always be our cry of affirmation. “Remember, Lord, how I grieve for the hurt of my people. Remember the intensity of my love for the nation in which I live, O Master.” Even when everything seems to be against us and all about us seems dark, we still have hope. We are taught, and we know the reality of the truth that we walk by faith and not by sight, and thus we know that the steadfast love of the lord never ceases.
Pause and take in the transition that the writer sets up with the twenty-first verse.
“But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope.”
[LAMENTATIONS 3:21]
Though gripped by sorrow, the child of God does have hope. And this is not a blind groping about for some transient relief. The writer knows that the nation has been judged for its own wickedness, and he knows that the judgement is just. We have witnessed him as he confesses this repeatedly. He has written of his pain and how he is personally injured since he is part of the society that has brought upon itself this awful judgement. However, though seized by intense pain, he confesses that he has hope.
Dear people, no matter how dark the days may seem, and they indeed appear dark, our God is still on the Throne. Our God reigns, and because He is seated on the Throne of Heaven, we have this confidence,
“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.’”
[LAMENTATIONS 3:19-24]
When the court Prophet Isaiah was warning of the coming judgement of the Righteous Lord, he looked back to recount the repeated blessings of God, and he testified,
“I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD,
the praises of the LORD,
according to all that the LORD has granted us,
and the great goodness to the house of Israel
that he has granted them according to his compassion,
according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
For he said, ‘Surely they are my people,
children who will not deal falsely.’
And he became their Savior.
In all their affliction he was afflicted,
and the angel of his presence saved them;
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”
[ISAIAH 63:7-9]
Contemplating just such pain for those who know the LORD, we witness the Psalmist testifying,
“When [the redeemed of the LORD] are diminished and brought low
through oppression, evil, and sorrow,
he pours contempt on princes
and makes them wander in trackless wastes;
but he raises up the needy out of affliction
and makes their families like flocks.
The upright see it and are glad,
and all wickedness shuts its mouth.
“Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.”
[PSALM 107:39-43]
The Psalmist has written,
“The steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
The LORD has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.”
[PSALM 103:17-19]
There it is! The steadfast love of the LORD is to be our focus even in the time of distress and grief. And God’s love revealed through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus is to be the centre of our life. When His love rules over us, we will never be bereft of hope. It is as the Apostle has testified, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” [1 CORINTHIANS 13:13].
Dear people, the days are dark. We are threatened by foes from outside our nation. We are threatened by politicians intent on doing us “good,” good that can only result in greater pain. We are threatened because of our faith in Christ the Lord. We are threatened even by some from our own family who don’t understand why we can’t just be silent and go along to get along. And for all that, we are buoyed up by the steadfast love of the Lord. With the Apostle, we testify, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” [GALATIANS 2:20]. Christ reigns, and He shall soon come for us. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
