God Is So Good! LAMENTATIONS 3:22-39

Transcription

1 LAMENTATIONS God Is So Good! 3:22-39 A middle-aged woman was diagnosed with cancer. The prescribed treatment was surgery, followed by chemotherapy. After the surgery was performed, she was brought back to her hospital room, where her family was allowed to be with her as she recovered from the anesthetic. Gradually regaining consciousness, she looked around and saw members of her family in the room. She smiled and said, Isn t God good? In Lamentations 3:1 18, Jeremiah s refrain sounded hopeless; his anguish was indescribable. These words portrayed God more as a distant memory than a present reality. The prophet s expressions of agony seemed to be asking, Where is God in all this? The middle of the third lament is the mountaintop. Climbing out of the valley of anguish, rising above the depression of pain, Jeremiah began to look up and see the Lord s presence. God had been there all along. He had been in and around all the troubling events. None of these happenings had escaped God s notice. When He seemed distant, it was not that God was not watching, but that Jeremiah was unaware of His presence. Recognizing the presence of God finally provided hope for Jeremiah and the people of Judah. As is the case with all biblical stories and events, Jeremiah s laments tell us more about the nature of God than about the anguish of Judah. The anguish of Judah is only the backdrop, the circumstance, out of which the true nature of God is revealed. The closer we get to the events that troubled Jeremiah, the more we see God. Lamentations 3:22 39 is about who God is and how we should respond to Him. FOUR QUALITIES OF GOD Hope for Jeremiah was bound up in four beautiful and comforting facets of God s nature which are summarized in 3:22 25a: The Lord s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I have hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him. The first is lovingkindness: The Lord s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease (v. 22a). The Hebrew word for lovingkindness is difficult to translate with one English word. It carries some of the same meaning as the New Testament word for grace 1 and is sometimes translated mercy. The mercy of God withholds deserved punishment. His mercy places limits on punishment and finally says, Enough! Justice sees that people get what they deserve. Mercy holds justice within bounds, tempering it and making it bearable. Out of the context of painful, deserved justice comes the mercy of God, revealing that He is righteous and loving in the administration 1 James E. Smith, Jeremiah and Lamentations, Bible Study Textbook Series (Joplin, Mo.: College Press, 1974),

2 of justice. Mercy reveals that even in justice, God seeks our highest good. Isn t God good? Second is compassion: His compassions never fail (v. 22b). The word compassion also eludes definition. It extends and elaborates upon the meaning of mercy. Compassion is sympathetic love or deep empathy toward those who are helpless or suffering. Sometimes the words mercy and compassion translate each other; they can be used interchangeably. Mercy involves action, while compassion is more emotional. Compassion is the reason for mercy. Both words express the endlessness and steadfastness of God s love. Evidences of God s mercy and compassion are new every morning. With each dawning day, they are fresh and new. As surely as the sun rises to bring a new day, God s lovingkindness greets His people and comforts them. Every morning? Wow! God s mercy is never depleted; it begins again every day. (See Isaiah 33:2.) A young boy who lived in the city went to visit his grandfather on the farm every summer. He would play outside all day, wandering up and down the hills, fishing in the pond, and swimming in the creek. He would help his grandfather milk the cows, gather the eggs, and feed the livestock. He dreaded nightfall, when he reluctantly had to go inside and go to bed. He never tired of the sights to see and the activities to do on the farm. Every morning, he would jump out of bed, look out the window at the bright sunshine, and say, Wow! Dressing quickly, he would rush out of the house to start another day. Faith in the mercies of God, new and fresh every day, can put the Wow! back into daily living. Yes, God is good. Next, we see faithfulness: Great is Thy faithfulness (v. 23b). Faithfulness exalts the greatness of God another step upward. You can depend on Him. You can place your absolute trust in Him with assurance that He will be there. What could be more reassuring than the knowledge that God is absolutely faithful in showing mercy and compassion? He will keep His promises. He will always be what He is; He can never be any more or less than He already is, because He is perfect. From verses 22 through 24 comes one of our great Christian hymns: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end, They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness, The Lord is my portion says my soul, Therefore, I will hope in Him. 2 The final facet is goodness: The Lord is good (v. 25a). The previous three qualities testify to His goodness. Goodness is the bottom line, the sum total of the way God feels about and acts toward His creation. The apostle Paul spoke of the goodness of God as a motive for repentance and warned that we should not despise His kindness, forbearance, and patience (Romans 2:4). He also contrasted the kindness and severity of God in order to teach the Roman Christians the need for continuing in the kindness of God (Romans 11:22). The great qualities of God provided the hope that caused Jeremiah to say, The Lord is my portion (v. 24a). Usually, the term portion was used with reference to an inheritance. In Numbers 18:20 God explained to Aaron, a Levite and a priest, that he and the Levites would not receive an inheritance, or portion, in the land as the other tribes did. God said to him, I am your portion and your inheritance. At a time when the most basic necessities of life were practically nonexistent, Jeremiah was content that the Lord would be his portion. God was his inheritance his bread, his clothing, his shelter, his everything. In the verses which follow, Jeremiah turned his attention to how people should respond to who God is and what He has done. WHAT GOD WILL NOT DO Sometimes the best way to get a truth in proper perspective is to consider the opposite, or look at it against a contrasting background. Before we look at how we should respond to God in verses 25 through 30, let us consider what God will not do. For the Lord will not reject forever, for if He causes grief, then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness. For He does not afflict willingly, or grieve the sons of men. To crush under His feet all the prison- 2 Amy Bessire, The Steadfast Love of the Lord, Praise for the Lord, ed. John P. Weigand (Nashville: Praise Press, 1992),

3 ers of the land, to deprive a man of justice in the presence of the Most High, to defraud a man in his lawsuit of these things the Lord does not approve (3:31 36). People often expect God to be like them. Whatever they think they would do in a circumstance is what they expect God to do in a similar one. God is not like human beings and should not be expected to treat His people as others would treat them. The people of Judah thought that God was too harsh in His justice. They may have been tempted to accuse Him of mistreating them. Jeremiah set the record straight: Of these things the Lord does not approve (v. 36b). Jeremiah s statements prove that God is good. The Lord will not reject forever (v. 31). God s chastisement is temporary. His very nature will not allow Him to turn away from His people forever. His discipline will be only for a short time, according to His compassion and lovingkindness. What this means is that even when God s people suffer because of just chastisement, it is for their benefit. God knows exactly how much to chastise and when to stop. He does not afflict willingly (v. 33a). The Hebrew word for willingly literally means from the heart. 3 God does not like to see His people afflicted. What appears to be vindictiveness is actually intense love. He deals with His people in such a way that they will open their hearts to receive His love and mercy. God s love is sometimes tough, but it is always for the good of His people. He knows how to show His love for us in the ways that will best accomplish His purposes for our lives. Like parental love, it is sometimes painful, both to Him and to His people. His purpose is not just to cause grief. After my mother had disciplined me as a youth, she would sometimes say, This hurts me worse than it does you. I did not understand how that could be until I became a parent and learned the pain of having to discipline my own children. This experience helps me to understand the disciplining love of God. He does not crush under His feet all the prisoners of the land (v. 34). This phrase describes what opposing armies did when they took prisoners. 3 Anthony Lee Ash, Jeremiah and Lamentations, The Living Word Commentary, ed. John T. Willis (Abilene, Tex.: ACU Press, 1987), 356. Jeremiah may have been thinking of the cruel treatment of Judah by the Babylonians. God did use the Babylonians to chastise His people, but their atrocities must not be attributed to God. God cannot be judged by the way these vicious enemies treated their captives. He does not deprive a man of justice (v. 35a). The presence of the Most High could refer to a tribunal held in the name of the Most High, before which all people should have a right to be heard. It was common for corrupt governmental leaders to deprive people of the right to a fair trial. Even Judah s leaders had been guilty of that at times. This was not God s way. God never denies anyone the privilege of having his case heard in the highest court. He ensures that everyone is dealt with justly and honestly. God should not be accused of depriving anyone of a fair hearing. HOW MEN SHOULD RESPOND TO GOD Typically, people respond to hard times, pain, and difficulty with despair, complaining, or sometimes even hostility toward God. At first, Jeremiah did the same; however, chapter 3 shows how meditating upon God s nature renewed his hope. Therefore I have hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth. 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 smiter; let him be filled with reproach (3:24b 30). Having reminded himself and the people of the true nature of God, Jeremiah demonstrated how people of God should respond to hard times: Hope in Him (v. 24). Underneath the laments of Jeremiah is a message of hope. Blessed is the man... whose trust is the Lord (Jeremiah 17:7). In one place he personified Hope as both Lord and Savior (Jeremiah 14:7, 8). Of course, we cannot know for sure, but I would like to think that Jeremiah had the psalms and drew strength from them. We do know that some of his expressions are almost exact reflections of specific psalms: How blessed is he... whose hope is in 3

4 the Lord his God (Psalm 146:5);... they should put their confidence in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments (Psalm 78:7). The message of hope is sounded even more clearly in the New Testament, where Christ is said to be the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27b). Other passages also emphasize the hope we have in Christ: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3). Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:1 5). Paul began his first letter to Timothy by affirming that Christ is our hope (1 Timothy 1:1). This hope is able to save us (Romans 8:24). Hope is to the soul of man what an anchor is to a ship (Hebrews 6:19). Our hope is made sure and steadfast by what Christ has done for us on the cross. Therefore I have hope in Him (Lamentations 3:24b). It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord (v. 26). When receiving just punishment for his own wrongdoing, the best a person can do is accept it in silence (vv. 27, 28). Since God has allowed the consequence of sin to come upon the sinner, he can be assured that it is just. The same God who laid the burden upon him is the God who can save him from it. One can benefit by learning the lessons of hardship early in life. The wisdom gained will serve him well through the rest of his life. Jeremiah could speak from personal experience. God had called him to be His spokesman at a young age. He had suffered along with the rest of the nation. He had survived by calmly trusting in God. His advice to other sufferers came out of his own experience. Let him put his mouth in the dust (v. 29a). In this verse we easily get the picture of what Jeremiah was saying. One who falls on his face in the dust in prostration before God is humbling himself in the presence of God. Standing defiantly before the sovereign God of the universe would only prolong the agony. The suffering of Judah was caused by rebellion against God. The only relief for this hunger was to eat a little dirt. Let him give his cheek to the smiter (v. 30a). Jeremiah s advice was to accept the deserved punishment. Jesus said, But I say to you, do not resist him who is evil; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also (Matthew 5:39). The smiter mentioned in verse 30 could have been God Himself, or it could have been Babylon, used as an instrument of God to get Judah s attention. Jesus taught that Christians are not even to resist the slap of an evil person. We should be able to accept unjust punishment with calmness and without retaliation, because our redemption was bought by the unjust punishment of Jesus. Our Savior accepted the punishment we deserve without retaliation. God is able to avenge us and promises that He will, so we do not have to seek vengeance for ourselves (Romans 12:19, 20). If we should turn the other cheek to those who smite us unjustly, how much more should we be willing to accept a well-deserved slap from the One who has the right to administer correction? What s the Message? One of the big issues of life is Who is in control? We take great pride in being in charge of our lives. Sometimes, we even manipulate others to behave as we want them to. Controlling people and circumstances is comfortable for us; we want everyone and everything to function in a predetermined and predictable manner. Who causes us to function in a predetermined, predictable manner? We like ruling, but not being ruled! This we should learn from Jeremiah: No person is in control of anything. He said, Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both 4

5 good and ill go forth? Why should any living mortal, or any man, offer complaint in view of his sins? (3:37 39). Though the Babylonian king ruled Judah, he did not control anything. Jeremiah was one of the few who recognized God as the true Ruler. The Creator and Sustainer of the universe is still in control. People only live under the delusion that they have the power to direct their lives. Let us, with the help of Jeremiah s questions, consider three reasons why no man controls the ways of God. First, the word of man is uncertain unless God has given him the message. In verse 37 Jeremiah asked, Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Without God, man is ignorant and misguided. If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know (1 Corinthians 8:2; see also 1 Timothy 6:3, 4). The only sure word comes from God. Second, the prophet asked, Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth? (v. 38). God alone knows what He is doing. His purposes are perfect and above question. Job expressed this truth another way: The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21b). God is absolutely sovereign. He is God; He does not have to tell us why He is doing anything. He is no more obligated to answer to us than we are required to explain to an ant why we dug up his hill to plant a garden. If we tried to explain, the ant could not understand. Our purposes are far beyond those of the ant. Not only are God s plans far beyond ours, but His purposes are infinitely righteous. What appears to us to be an ill wind may become a blessing. A wind that blows from the mouth of God, like a word spoken by the mouth of God, may seem harsh and painful, though all the time it is for our good. Our place is not to question why; our task is to trust God to know what He is doing and submit to His purposes. In verse 39 we see a third question: Why should any living mortal offer complaint in view of his sins? We have no right to complain, especially if what happens to us is just recompense for our own wrongdoing. Either way, we have no reason to bemoan a situation. Rather than complaining, we ought to be thanking God because He loves us enough to do something to get our attention. God struck Saul of Tarsus with blindness to help him see his spiritual condition (Acts 9:1 19). In the case of the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:25 34), an earthquake led to a soul-quake. Are you ready for God to use you for His purposes? Can you pray, God, take me and do whatever You have to do with me to make me useful for Your purposes? You cannot imagine what God may have to do with you to fit you for His work. You may find pain, tribulation, and heartache ahead if you pray that prayer. Certainly, you will find blessings ahead. Whatever happens will be for your good and for the fulfilling of God s purposes. That cannot be bad. The only way to be in control of your life is to yield your will to God s. You will discover that God really is good. Copyright, 1998, 2001 by Truth for Today ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 5