FBC Morning Light - Aigust 30, 2022

Jeremiah’s Despair in Lamentations 3

Well, good Tuesday morning to you, I hope your week got off to a good start yesterday. Well today we're reading in the book of Lamentations, and Lamentations is an interesting book. It's five chapters long and it's really written in a poetic form, and we believe Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations and wrote it after the fall of Jerusalem, after the city was destroyed and so forth, and had great reason to lament the fall of his people and his nation.

And so the first couple of chapters are, each chapter is 22 verses long, and chapters four and five are 22 verses long, and chapter three is three times as long, 66 verses long. And chapter three is where we're focusing our attention today.

By the way, each of these chapters, the verses begin with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet in sequential order, alphabetical order. And in chapter three, it repeats that process three times. All right, so in chapter three, he starts out the first 19 verses really expressing how deep, in deep despair he feels.

And there can come some times in our lives that are like that, where circumstances in life are just, they're so dark and grievous, so desperate, we feel so utterly, what's the word to use, just filled with despair.

This is Jeremiah in these first 19 verses. So listen to exactly what he says in verses 19 and 20 that kind of summarizes everything he's been saying in verses one to 18. He says, remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall.

The gall, that word means the bitterness. The wormwood and the gall, he's referring to some substances that taste extremely bitter on the tongue. He says, my soul still remembers and sinks within me. Now obviously, Jeremiah is feeling pretty down, he's really in the pits, in despair.

And what's maybe surprising about this is these expressions of desperation and bitterness are coming from one who was chosen by God to serve as a prophet to his people, and he faithfully carried out that work, that ministry.

And what he prophesied has come to pass. But he doesn't feel a sense of justification or vindication for his prophecy having come to pass. Instead, he feels incredibly depressed. What do you do when you get to feeling like that?

What do you do? There are really a couple of options. One of them is we can wallow. And I'm afraid it's often what we do, isn't it? We just kind of wallow in our despair. Well, Jeremiah expresses that despair, but he doesn't wallow in it.

Hope in the Lord’s Mercies

Instead, he goes on in verse 21 to give us some direction in how to handle those times. He says in verse 21, this I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. All right, now wait a minute. He's just been expressing in the first 19 verses of this chapter how deep in despair he feels.

But then he says, I bring something to my mind, and that gives me hope. What is it that he brings to his mind? Well, here it is. Verses 22 and following. Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed.

Though we are suffering badly, through his mercies, we are not consumed. Because his compassions fail not, they are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I hope in him.

Do you see what he's doing? He's looking all around him, and he sees nothing that can excite him, nothing that can give him joy, nothing that can give him pleasure and happiness. So what does he do? He looks within, and he remembers.

He brings back to mind some very important, timeless truth. And the truth is that the Lord's compassions do not fail. Even though things look bleak, even though I'm in despair, the Lord's compassions do not fail.

His compassions are new every morning. His faithfulness is great. And this is the verse that is the basis for that hymn that we sing from time to time. Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father. Morning by morning, new mercies I see.

Great is thy faithfulness. And then he says, the Lord is my portion, therefore I hope in him. Listen, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, if God is your Heavenly Father, then no matter how dark the days, no matter how deep the despair, and those days come, they do come, do they not?

But no matter how dark they are, hope within. Look within. Look at who you are trusting. Look within. Who are you trusting? Are you trusting in yourself? Are you trusting in your circumstances? Or are you trusting in your Heavenly Father, the one whose faithfulness is great, the one whose compassions don't fail, the one whose mercies are new each day?

The Lord is your portion, if you are a follower of Christ, therefore hope in him. This too shall pass. God's faithfulness to you will not. Hope in him. Some great counsel, some great encouragement from the Prophet Jeremiah in how he handled some very, very dark days in his life.

A Prayer for Hope in Dark Days

Our Father and our God, those days come. We all know that, know that, know that, and we all experience them from time to time. I pray, Heavenly Father, that when those days come, we would remember who you are, how great your faithfulness is, how your mercies do not fail, and may we have hope in you.

And this we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well you have a wonderful Tuesday. I hope God will bless you in it.

Good day.