WHAT IS THIS NEW SERIES?
"AfterWords: Lives Affected by What We Believe"
is a brief series that is meant to connect our
Statement of Faith (from the We Believe series) with other key aspects
of the Christian life as we enter this new year of 2023.
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PRIMARY TEXT
“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. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” (Lamentations 3:19–27 ESV)
INTRODUCTORY THOUGHT AND GUIDING QUESTIONS
Lamentations provides hope while we wait for that final day when all will be restored. And we’ll see that this morning. Yet this book is also simply realistic about the days before that final restoration. There is no resolution, no happily-ever-after in Lamentations. All that is left at the end of the book are questions and tears. Lamentations speaks of the path of sorrow, or hardship…believing and trusting God while the darkness is often overwhelming; growing in knowing how to trust when the immediate future remains entirely uncertain, absolutely fearful, and exceedingly sorrowful.
- What do we do when we are faced with sorrow and loss in our life?
- How do we keep from sinking down under it all?
- How do we keep the sorrow and troubles of the past from poisoning the present and darkening the future?
- How do we find the hope to carry on while we wait for that final day?
- If the author of this book finds hope amid the horrific suffering he and his people are enduring, how might I learn from him?
DWELLING ON YOUR SORROW WILL ONLY INCREASE YOUR SORROW
It is good and right for you to express your sorrow. Jesus knew tears of sorrow. God created us with emotions and tears to go with them. So, cry when you need to, talk about it with others, pray about it, journal, write a poem or a song, draw a picture. Whatever it takes, express your sorrow and grief. And give yourself, and others, lots of grace and patience along the way. With that said, we shouldn’t DWELL in our sorrow – live in our sorrow, soak in our sorrow.
- Dwelling on your sorrow will poison your life with bitterness
- Dwelling on your sorrow will eventually lead you to depression and despair
- Dwelling on your sorrow cannot bring you hope
CHOOSING TO REMEMBER GOD’S FAITHFULNESS WILL BRING YOU HOPE
This severely troubled, afflicted, and grieving man believes without any doubt that God is not only faithful but that his faithfulness is great. How so?
- God is faithful in his great love for you.
The author had seen the faithfulness of God in Israel. He had known it himself. And for him, as he considered the steadfast faithful love of God towards him even when all around him was dark and difficult and God seemed so very silent and perhaps even distant, God and all his promises were more than enough for him so the precise location where hope was found wasn’t in the varied and difficult emotions or circumstances but in the unshakable God, the God he believed in. He knew that though the days were dark, that not only would the Lord stay by his side in the sorrow, but because of his faithfulness and his love, there was a day coming when the sorrows will be no more. He believed that the Lord was worthy and sufficient to be his hope-producing portion even in these shadow lands while he awaited the glories of the age to come.
What/who is your portion? What is it you are waiting for this morning? Are you waiting for a healing? A change in circumstances? A better job that will pay the bills? For whatever is causing your sorrow to simply go away? Or are you waiting for the Lord? All the other things you are waiting for are fine, and certainly take them to the Lord in prayer, but might you make God your portion? Wait for him. Look to him for His compassions never fail.
Isaiah 40:31; Romans 8:31-39 - God is faithful in his goodness to you
We can trust the Lord in our difficulty because He is Good. Wholly good. Without stain or blemish. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. Don’t let your circumstances cloud the goodness of God. Even when you may be tempted to think otherwise when your situation is so very difficult. Again, the one who is going through such sorrow like Jeremiah, unbelievable sorrow and difficulty, states amid all the loud sorrows and pains – and they’re loud, aren’t they?!! – he states that God is good to the one who waits for him and the one who seeks him even as he, or she, pours their lament out to the Lord and cries out to him for deliverance.
It is good to wait quietly for deliverance from the current situation you find yourself in. From sickness, from enemies, from unwanted thoughts, from difficult memories… whatever is causing your sorrow or grief. Each one of us want deliverance yesterday, but God calls us to trust him and his purposes and his faithfulness and his timing rather than succumbing to the fear of unbelief and our sense of good timing. God’s timing is always good. He’s never sleeping, never arriving early, never arriving late…he’s always precisely on time.
CONCLUSION
God uses the difficult times in your life for good to make you strong in him. Far from God being vindictive, there simply is a sweetness to be had in trusting God even through significant pain and sorrow. Testimony after testimony plays out the reality that the sweetness of God and his comforting presence has been greatly experienced in those who endure suffering in this life.
A Quote by Andy Squyres for your thoughts...
Take all the infected splinters of practical atheism and put them up on the altar of God's silence and let God send his river of fire whenever he gets around to it. Is God silent? Let us receive him in his silence! Is God absent? Let us receive him in his absence then! And by all means let us also receive him in signs and wonders and revivals and miracles as well! But maybe you are too tired to anticipate anything like that. It's okay. Jesus has a history of cursing unfruitful fig trees. Just stand still and wait for him to walk by. He will speak to your branches. He will speak to your roots. And if he says "shrivel up and die", fear not because what he is really cursing is the revelry of unbelief that has snuck its way like a snake into our hearts. I used to be afraid of judgement but now I know that the judgements of Christ are what heal me of my wounds, self-inflicted or otherwise.
Damn the life of unbelief and drink from the well of Christ himself. What other place is there for us to go? What other recourse could we possibly find? A deconstructionist's podcast? A nationalist's political movement? Someone's graduate degree in psychology? Please. I never want to be so clever that I lose my humanity, and by that I mean my hunger and thirst for God. So whether I am in brokenness or wholeness I confess that the Man Christ Jesus is my Lord and I confess that he is Lord over all things, and all things are from him and through him and to him, and you can believe and confess otherwise but I really don't care. I'm sticking with this old fashioned and out of touch admission, and to steal from the poet Rich Mullins I'll add, "I did not make this confession, no, it is making me." (Andy Squyres)
TWO TOOLS/RESOURCES THAT MAY PROVE HELPFUL IN CONNECTING WHAT YOU BELIEVE TO SUFFERING.
- A HELPFUL WEBSITE ON SUFFERING - A wealth of help amid suffering is available on this website. Consider reading, listening, and watching all that is available here.
- A HELPFUL BOOK ON LAMENT: From the website: "Lament is how you live between the poles of a hard life and trusting God’s goodness. Lament is how we bring our sorrow to God—but it is a neglected dimension of the Christian life for many Christians today. We need to recover the practice of honest spiritual struggle that gives us permission to vocalize our pain and wrestle with our sorrow. Lament avoids trite answers and quick solutions, progressively moving us toward deeper worship and trust.
"Exploring how the Bible—through the psalms of lament and the book of Lamentations—gives voice to our pain, this book invites us to grieve, struggle, and tap into the rich reservoir of grace and mercy God offers in the darkest moments of our lives."
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SONGS FOR ENCOURAGEMENT