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Reading Lamentations 3:28-39 where it is said that nothing comes to pass unless the Lord has commanded it, and it is from Him that both good and bad come. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Who is there who speaks and it happens unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good go forth? Praise God for His kindness when we understand the text.
This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.
Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Lamentations, we've been in chapter 3. And last time we read these wonderful words right at the center of the book. The rest of the book revolves around this hopeful chorus.
As we read again in verses 22 to 24, the loving-kindnesses of Yahweh indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness. Yahweh is my portion, says my soul, therefore I wait for Him.
The rest of the book is, as the name would suggest, a song of lament, mourning over the sin that this people has committed against God and the punishment that He has brought against them because they worshiped false gods.
They went after the ways of the pagans around them. They rebelled against the one who had rescued them out of slavery and had given them so many good things through the promised land. And instead this people thought, no, you know what, I like what the pagans are doing.
And they went after sexual immorality and greed and violence and many other such things that stirred the Lord to anger. The punishment that they have received, they deserve it and more. And so this song has been a song of mourning over the sin and the punishment that has resulted.
The people are left wondering, is this it for us? Is God just going to turn us over to be destroyed? We have been abandoned by God now forever and recognizing they deserve that. Yet we have this hopeful portion right there in the middle.
And in fact, back in verse 21, we read, this I will return to my heart and therefore I will wait in hope. And then stating that the mercies of the Lord are new every morning. Now where we go from here, we probably won't finish all of chapter three today.
It is the longest chapter in Lamentations. Every chapter is 22 verses except for chapter three, which is three times as long. It's 66 verses, but we'll see how far we get. What comes next is a recognition of sin and also recognizing the sovereignty of God in the midst of all of these things.
God has never lost his hand over the situation. It all belongs to him. And so who are we to complain against God because of what we have done? We deserve this. God is holy and we are not. And so where there is hope that God's mercies are new every morning, let us rejoice in that and return to the Lord with a hopeful expectation that he will restore and renew.
Let me pick up reading in verse 28. Hear the word of the Lord. Yod. Let him sit alone and be silent since he has laid it on him. Let him put his mouth in the dust. Perhaps there is hope. Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him.
Let him be saturated with reproach. Kaf. For the Lord will not reject forever. For if he causes grief, then he will have compassion according to his abundant loving kindness. For he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the sons of men.
Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land. To deprive a man of justice in the presence of the Most High. To defraud a man in his legal case. These things the Lord does not see with approval.
Mem. Who is there who speaks and it happens unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good go forth? Why should any living person or any man complain because of his sins?
Nun. Let us search out and examine our ways and let us return to Yahweh. We lift up our heart to our hands toward God in heaven. We have transgressed and rebelled. You have not pardoned. Samech. You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us.
You have killed and have not spared. You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. You have made us mere scum and refuse in the midst of the peoples. And we'll stop there and we'll see if we get that far today.
So that portion that's right there in the middle of what I read, verses 37 to 39. Who is there who speaks and it happens unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good go forth?
This is a recognition that everything that has come upon us has been by the hand of God. We've seen that recognition come up in Lamentations. But also knowing that God does this and he is still good. No matter how much we suffer or struggle under the punishment that God brings, that does not make God evil.
We're the ones who have done wickedly. This is a good and healthy response to sin that is being sung about here in this song. We did wickedly. God brought this judgment upon us. And so, verse 39, why should any living person or any man complain?
Because of his sins. And we will consider the sovereignty of God, even in the midst of sin and punishment, as we look at the portion of Lamentations 3 that we are looking at today. So coming back up to verse, let me start here in about verse 27, which is not where I started reading, but this is from last week's lesson.
It says here that Yahweh is good to those who hope in him, to the soul who seeks him. It's good that he waits silently for the salvation of Yahweh. It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth.
These are verses that we considered last week. And then right on this point, we get to verse 28. Let him sit alone and be silent, since he, capital H-E, has laid it on him. So it's good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth.
It's good that a young man recognize his youthful passions, have to suffer the consequences because of his sin, and learn from that that he may not repeat those ways again. So hence why it is said in verse 28, let him sit alone and be silent, since God is the one who has laid it on him.
This continues down into verse 39, where it says, why should any living person or any man complain because of his sins? Why should we complain before God? We deserve to be destroyed. So if you're being punished because of your sin, that's a good thing.
That is a blessed thing from the Lord. As we read about in Hebrews chapter 12, he disciplines his sons and daughters. If we were not disciplined, we would be illegitimate sons and daughters and would not be the children of God.
As Jesus says in Revelation chapter 3, those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. So be zealous and repent. So hence this statement in verse 28 again, sit alone and be silent. God has laid this yoke of punishment upon you.
Ponder in these things. Verse 29, let him put his mouth in the dust. Perhaps there is hope. If there is any hope for your forgiveness and restoration, it's got to begin with your repentance. And why would you wait until you could see that there is hope before you repent?
You should repent now. You should acknowledge and recognize right now that you have sinned against God. Recognize that and repent. Turn from that, that you may find the hope that God gives for the one whom he will restore.
Verse 30, let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him. Let him be saturated with reproach. The punishment that God brings is a good thing. And so it is good that we would turn our cheek and let it be struck because it is for our upbuilding.
Consider Psalm 141, verse 5, let a righteous man strike me. It is a kindness. Let him rebuke me. It is oil for my head. Let my head not refuse it. So if God must punish, if he must correct, I want to be receptive to it.
If a brother has to confront me in my sin and correct my way, I want to be receptive to that. If I have an attitude where I start making excuses, oh, no, no, no, it wasn't that. You know, I'll try to make excuses for my sin.
It was something else. Or no, you have this out of context. You didn't hear this right or you didn't see the right thing or something like that. If I start making excuses when I know that I'm guilty, then I'm refusing the righteous rebuke that has come to me by a righteous man.
Let me not refuse that correction when it comes so that I may be cleansed of all unrighteousness. Remember again, 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And so give your cheek to the one who strikes and let us be saturated with reproach. Going on into verse 31 for the Lord will not reject forever. So, again, if God must punish because of our sin, God is doing this in his love and in his kindness.
Even the singer is recognizing this here and saying that his loving kindness is never cease. So the Lord's punishment that has come against us. Yeah, it feels to us like God has utterly given us over.
He's done. He just can't stand us any longer, and he's going to turn us over to be destroyed. When we go through punishment like that, it could certainly feel that way. But we're reminded the Lord will not reject forever the one who has hope in him that God will forgive and restore.
Verse 32, for if he causes grief, then he will have compassion according to his abundant loving kindness. Now, again, this is toward the one who knows that he can still hope in God. This is toward the one who has turned his cheek to be struck by the righteous reproof of God.
But there are plenty out there. God has caused grief. They are struggling or suffering under the consequences of their sin, but they never repent. They never turn back to the Lord. God's compassion does not come upon them.
His loving kindness does not restore them. Now, we read in Romans 2 that God's kindness and forbearance and patience is meant to lead you to repentance. The reason why you haven't been destroyed yet is because God is being kind to you, that you would repent and come back to him.
But there are those who never will, and they won't ever understand or live in the loving kindness of God. Rather, they will continue to rebel and be hard-hearted to their very deaths and the judgment of the Lord that will come upon them.
But for those whom God punishes that he means to restore, he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the sons of men. But what sorts of things, if we continue in them, would stir the Lord to further anger?
Well, that's what we have in the next portion, verses 34 to 36. This is kind of like that list in Proverbs 6, where it says there are six things the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him. And so you have that kind of a list here in Lamentations 3.
It's not seven things, but you still have a list of things that make the Lord angry. This is what God does not see with approval. So if a person knows that he's being punished by God and yet he hopes in God and he turns to the loving kindness of God, then he should not demonstrate these things in his life.
So verses 34 to 36, to crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land, to deprive a man of justice in the presence of the Most High. So he does unjustly. To defraud a man in his legal case. These things the Lord does not see with approval.
These three things that are listed on this short list are things that God does not approve of. A man who is not truly repentant of his sin will continue in these. Depriving a man of justice, defrauding a man in his legal case.
You see all of these things having to do with justice. So if you want justice from God and you want the justice that you deserve to be lifted from you. So you want justice from God to come upon the enemies who have done this to you.
But you don't want God's justice to come against you. Then you can't behave in this way. If you act unjustly, then you will perish under the justice of God. But if a man has turned from these things and has lived in such a way that is approving to God, then he will gain the favor of the Lord.
He will have compassion. God will have compassion according to his abundant loving kindness. And then we have these verses here, which are some of the most controversial verses in Lamentations. Chapter 3, verses 37 to 39.
Who is there who speaks and it happens unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the most high that both calamities and good go forth? Why should any living person or any man complain because of his sins?
Now, let me read this to you in the ESV, because this is the one I most often quote. And you've probably heard me quote this before on the podcast. Lamentations 3, verses 37 to 39. Who has spoken and it came to pass unless the Lord has commanded it?
Is it not from the mouth of the most high that good and bad come? Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? So everything that comes about, good or bad, comes by the mouth of God.
Solomon quoted this also, or said the same thing in Ecclesiastes. Job recognized this. This is a common refrain in the wisdom books. Anything that happens, good or bad, happens by the hand of God, or in this particular case, by the mouth of God.
God has spoken and it came to pass. There is nothing that happens unless God has ordained it. Now, lest anybody be in that place and therefore say, okay, well, if God has ordained this, then my sin is not my fault.
No, then you have verse 39. Why should a living man complain about the punishment of his sins? Or the way that it's worded in the LSB. Why should any living person or any man complain because of his sins?
And this is like the question that Paul asks in Romans chapter 9. It's with the same heart that Paul presents this argument in Romans 9 that he responds to. It's with the same heart that we read about in asking this question in Lamentations chapter 3.
Romans 9 .19, you will say to me then, why does he still find fault for who can resist his will? If, as it is said in verse 18, that he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills, then why does he still find fault for who can resist his will?
But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy which he has prepared beforehand for glory?
So if God has done this, whether he has made you a vessel to be destroyed or a vessel to receive the riches of his glory or make known the riches of his glory for those that he has prepared beforehand for glory, whichever one of those that you become, who are you to complain about it?
Who are you to point the finger at God and say, how can you find fault with me when it's all according to your will? Who are you to answer back to God? If God were to have made you, let's use the free will argument, okay?
If God were to have made you with completely autonomous free will so that it was all about your choices and God's will had not determined your course one way or the other, where do you think you would go?
Which direction do you think you would go? Do you really think that by your own free will you would have chosen the righteous path? No, you would not. And you are full of yourself if you think that that's what you have chosen.
Us in our rebellion against God, we would have chosen our own way, the way of our flesh, exalting ourself to that way every single time, every single time. God gives you a million chances. You still would have gone your own way instead of God's way.
And so even if it was by our own autonomous free will that I'm choosing every single step I take and God doesn't have anything to do with it, it's my choices or else he doesn't love me, okay? Even if that was your attitude about that, even if it had been granted to you that way, that you could have received every step by your own free will, you still would not have stepped in the direction of God.
Who has spoken and it came to pass? Who is there who speaks and it happens unless God has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the most high that both calamities and good go forth? Whether you see good days or you see punishment come upon you because of your sin, or you just have to go through trials that are like the trials that anybody goes through in their lives, all of these things are from the Lord.
So why should any living person or any man complain because of his sins? What do you have to complain about? If God is punishing you because of sin, praise God. If he is restoring you out of that sin and setting you back on a course of righteousness, praise God because you know if left to yourself, you never would have been able to attain God.
You never would have even wanted to go in the direction of God. It would have always been about you and it is by God's mercy and his loving kindness that he has brought you to himself. And so what do you have to complain about?
We have nothing to complain about. We have only to praise God and see to it, my friends, that you turn from every wicked, evil way and you desire to walk those paths of righteousness that God has marked out for us in his word.
Turn from your sin to the Lord Jesus Christ. Be thankful to God that he hasn't obliterated you, that you may turn from your sin to the Lord Christ and be cleansed of all unrighteousness. And now having been cleansed that you will walk all your days after Christ, not after yourself, not after your flesh, not after the world, not after what your friends want, not after what your peers expect of you, not after Satan and his schemes.
You walk after Christ and great is his faithfulness. His mercies are new every morning. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your loving kindness to us day after day. What have we done to deserve such loving kindness of God that you sent your son to die on the cross for our sins, to be an atoning sacrifice, to rise again from the dead so that all who believe in him, we are forgiven our sins.
We are reconciled to God. We are promised an everlasting kingdom with you in glory. Lord, bring us into your kingdom and help us walk in this world as kingdom people now, not after the ways of the world, nor after the passions of our flesh, but help us to be after Christ in all things.
It's in Jesus name we pray.
Amen. This has been When We Understand the Text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.
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