The Second Sunday after Christmas

SERMON

INI

Text: Lamentations 3:22-32

Through the LORD’s 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.” The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone and keep silent, because God has laid it on Him; let him put his mouth in the dust—there may yet be hope. Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, and be full of reproach. For the Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.

In Christ Jesus, who gives us hope even in the midst of suffering, dear fellow redeemed:

“I wish I would have perished with my possessions.” Such were the words of an Indonesian fisherman reported this past week in the aftermath of the Tsunami tidal wave that struck Southeast Asia. He had lost his boat, his home, and all of his possessions with little hope of replacing any of them. In the half-sheet report on the disaster available in the Narthex, Pastor Jyothi Benjamin writes, “Many of our Pastors and members have lost their shelters, prayer sheds, and belongings in these heavy tidal waves. The scenario is grim and heart rending…. We are estimating that more than one thousand five hundred members were the victims of this devastation…. Many of our poor member and pastors were seen salvaging whatever remained of their belongings and trying to pick up the threads of life.”

My dear friends, during the upcoming days and weeks let us do what we are able to relieve our brethren and others in the midst of this natural disaster. This morning, however, let us spend this devotional time considering why we as Christians need not despair in the midst of suffering as did the fisherman quoted above. Let us turn to the Spirit-engendered observations of the prophet Jeremiah, who reassures us of this truth: GOD REMAINS OUR HOPE IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING!

I.

He is always faithful! The words of our text take us back to a very different scene of devastation. In 586 BC, almost twenty-six hundred years ago, God permitted King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to sack and destroy the city of Jerusalem and to take into captivity many of His Old Testament people. He did so, because the vast majority of His people had been unfaithful, failing to treasure the promise of the Savior, worshipping false gods, making alliances with the ungodly of this world, and refusing to live in accordance with His laws. Jeremiah, who in the aftermath of the battle found himself sitting in the midst of the rubble of the razed city, mused, “How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow is she, who was great among the nations! The princess among the provinces has become a slave. She weeps bitterly in the night, her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies” (Lamentations 1:1-2).

Now many might consider this scene evidence of the impotence and unfaithfulness of God. How could He allow such a thing to happen? How could He allow the capital city of His own people and the temple of Solomon, one of the wonders of the ancient world, to be destroyed? In response many would have blamed God and cited this scene as ample reason to forsake Him. Jeremiah, however, knew better. He knew that the sins of his people were the reason for the devastation that lay before him. In fact, he knew that had his people received what they in reality deserved, God would not have spared even their lives. The Spirit, therefore, moved him to write in the midst of such devastation, “Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not!” If God’s Old Testament people had gotten what they deserved, both their bodies and their souls would have been damned forever, but God is always faithful! God’s compassions, Jeremiah says, “are new every morning.” “Great is Your faithfulness,” he exclaimed of God and concludes, “The LORD is my portion,…therefore I hope in Him!”

My dear friends, God permits suffering to enter our lives as individuals, as communities, and as nations in a variety of ways, at various times, and for a variety of reasons. We know this that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Suffering, therefore, ought not move us to defy God, decry Him, or forsake Him. As with ancient Israel, we must confess that were God to give us what we deserve in view of our many sins, we would be destroyed. Yet God’s compassions are indeed “new each morning” and He remains “faithful” and worthy of our “hope.” Whether our health fail, or our finances flounder, or our family undergo misfortune GOD REMAINS OUR HOPE IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING! He is always faithful, for as the Scriptures testify, “He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). Faithfulness is a characteristic of God even as is His power, His glory, and His grace.

II.

Secondly, God remains our hope, for He is always good! Always good? If that were the case, many might argue, why would God permit His believing children to suffer along side the unbeliever? Why did Jeremiah have to suffer with wicked King Zedekiah and his court? Why are the members of the CLCI suffering along side their unbelieving Hindu and Muslim neighbors in the aftermath of this tidal wave? “Hush, now,” we might say to such skeptics! We can, will, and must readily admit, as the apostle Paul explains, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out” (Romans 11:33). There are not always easy answers available to explain suffering, yet we know this truth as explained by Jeremiah, “The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.” Consequently, we recognize with Jeremiah, that “it is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”

It remains true that man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. If God desires as His ultimate goal that we are led into His eternal kingdom, and that is certainly the case, then we must trust that the path upon which He leads us will ultimately and for our benefit attain that goal. Consequently, all that He permits to happen to us is for our good and a reflection of that goodness. If suffering comes, there is a reason either for ourselves or for others. God does not afflict without purpose, and should He permit affliction to enter our lives it will be His goal to bring us closer to Himself or to draw someone else to Himself through us.

Consequently, Jeremiah’s observations reveal tremendous insight, when he says, “It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone and keep silent, because God has laid it on Him; let him put his mouth in the dust—there may yet be hope. Let him give his cheek to the one who strike him, and be full of reproach.” When we suffer, Satan would tempt us to embrace a “woe is me” attitude, to complain, to rebel, and to strike back in whatever direction we find possible—whether at God or at man. Yet, the Scripture tell us that God at times “refines” us like silver or like gold (cf. Zechariah 13:9). In other words, He places us in the furnace of suffering to purify us and make us better and stronger. Therefore, let us not join the whining of the unbelievers when facing suffering, but rather with patience pray that God will help us see His purpose for our lives and the lives of those with whom our lives are intertwined. The Scriptures assure us that God has “no pleasure at all that the wicked should die,” but rather that he should “turn from his ways and live” (Ezekiel 18:23). That being the case, God certainly has no pleasure in the suffering of His believing children, but rather has a good and gracious purpose in mind whenever such suffering occurs. God is always good! That is why GOD REMAINS OUR HOPE IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING!

III.

Finally, we see that God is always compassionate! Jeremiah writes, “The Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.” In the Parable of the Unjust Judge, Jesus urges us “always…to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). The reason why is that we have a heavenly Father who loves us and views us with compassion. We see this, of course, most clearly in God’s plan for our salvation. “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God demonstrated His love for us so clearly by sending Jesus to become that Christ-Child of Bethlehem. He grew up and entered His ministry in order to proclaim to us God’s grace and blessing through faith in His saving name. When we, in the midst of our sin, call upon His name, God promises that He will save us (cf. Romans 10:13). He is not talking about saving us from mere sickness, or financial ruin, or from the worldly results at times of our own foolishness. No, He is talking about saving us from eternal damnation and bestowing upon us the gift of eternal life. If God has chosen us to become His children through faith in Christ, will He not also look upon us as we suffer with true compassion and deliver us? Of course He will!

Jeremiah did not live to see God deliver His people from Babylon. That deliverance took place long after Jeremiah was martyred among the unbelievers of his people in Egypt. Yet, it was Jeremiah who prophesied that the people would indeed return from Babylon after seventy years of captivity—a prophesy which the Spirit of God use to uplift Daniel after long years of exile from his homeland (cf. Daniel 9:2). What a glorious day it was when King Cyrus of Persia declared that God’s repentant people might return and rebuild the city of Jerusalem and God’s temple. The Lord did not cast off forever, but revealed His compassion.

Even so, we must bring before our compassionate God the needs of our brethren in India and our fellow human beings in other countries as well, who are suffering the effects of the massive tidal wave. God will not cast off His believing children, but will use this natural disaster to further His will and work in that area of the world. Perhaps, through our generosity, our fellow believers will be enabled to help their Hindu and Muslim countrymen and thereby demonstrate the love of Christ and open the path to gospel outreach.

In our own lives, let us recognize these truths. God will not cast us off forever, but rather when He permits suffering to enter our lives or the lives of our loved ones, He will show compassion. Let us pray for it. Let us expect it. Let us rejoice in it, when it comes and respond with thanksgiving to our Savior God. May God prevent us ever from despairing when confronted by the troubles of this life. Rather may GOD REMAIN OUR HOPE IN THE MIDST OF ANY AND ALL SUFFERING! Amen.

Soli Dei Gloria!
—Pastor Paul D. Nolting