Finding Hope In The Darkest Night Text: Lamentations 3:1-66 Seris: When Life Is Tough, Lamentations, #3 Pastor Lyle L. Wahl

Finding Hope In The Darkest Night Text: Lamentations 3:1-66 Seris: When Life Is Tough, Lamentations, #3 Pastor Lyle L. Wahl Introduction. Imagine, see yourself lying in a hospital bed, tubes running to your arm, struggling to stay alive. A number of years ago you were in the hospital for surgery, received blood then, when donated blood was not tested as thoroughly as it is today. First there was the devastating news from a blood test. Then the waiting. Now you are in the hospital again, in the final stages of AIDS. Your family and friends haven t been comfortable around you for a long time. Hardly anyone comes to see you now. All your dreams, plans, ambitions have come to an abrupt and final stop. You move through the normal stages of questioning. There s some bitterness, Why God? Why?? You look at the blank, silent ceiling and say, If only He would tell me! Why? I want to believe, but my situation is hopeless. How can you, how do you find hope, find a certainty for the future, in that long, dark night of suffering? All of us have faced and will face problems and suffering. The intensity and duration vary, but they are a reality of life. How have you responded in the past? How are you responding now? How will you respond the next time? Christians are the only people who can have real hope based on unchanging, eternal God and His truth. Hope, even in the longest and darkest nights of suffering, even when the circumstances do not change for the better. We see this in the high point of Lamentations, chapter 3. Chapter 1, When There Is No Comfort. Chapter 2, God s Angry Side. And now chapter 3, Finding Hope In The Darkest Night.

The Long Dark Night Of Suffering. In his life and ministry before and through the nightmare of Jerusalem s fall, Jeremiah went through the long dark night of suffering, through finding hope in the darkest night. He suffered through rejection and brutal treatment from his own people as he proclaimed God s word of judgment. He suffered through the long, horrific siege of Jerusalem, famine, despair, destruction, death that came with it. This chapter begins, I am the man who has seen affliction because of the rod of His wrath (1). I am the man, he speaks of himself. In the middle of the chapter he broadens this to include the people. We see from his account that the suffering was in every area of life physical, emotional, social and spiritual. Let s look at each of these areas of suffering. First, the physical suffering. We are by now painfully aware of some of the physical suffering Jeremiah and the people went through. The pain of hunger that was never satisfied. The pain of sickness, weakness, death. Look at Jeremiah s concise picture in verse 4, He [God] has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones. In this case, God was judging the nation for its sin. The wasting away and violence came through the enemy, but also through the desperate people to each other. Physical suffering takes its toll. From the routine colds and flu to the long term, even life-long pain of illness. Other stresses and strains also effect us, can cause havoc with us physically. Then there is the emotional suffering. For Jeremiah and the people, it was the feeling of:! humiliation, verse 16, He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust.! The feeling of torment, verse 17, My soul has been rejected from peace.! The feeling of perpetual sadness and gloom, also in verse 17, I have forgotten happiness.! The feeling of being weighed down under a heavy burden, verse 7, He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy. 2

! The feeling of sorrow, starting at verse 48-54, My eyes run down with streams of water because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. My eyes pour down unceasingly, without stopping, until the LORD looks down and sees from heaven. My eyes bring pain to my soul because of all the daughters of my city. My enemies without cause hunted me down like a bird; they have silenced me in the pit and have placed a stone on me. Waters flowed over my head; I said, I am cut off! (48-54).! The feeling of numb emptiness, verse 6, In the dark places He has made me dwell, like those who have long been dead.! The feeling of panic, verse 47, Panic and pitfall have befallen us, devastation and destruction.! The feeling of bitterness, Verse 5, He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship. Verse 15, He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood. Once more, verse 19, Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Can you identify with those feelings? In your own way, you ve been there too. The long, dark night of emotional suffering is all too real. Next we see the social suffering in this long, darkest night. Jeremiah prophesied the destruction before it came. The response from the people? Verse 14, I have become a laughingstock to all my people, their mocking song all the day. 1. We have some historical background and details in Jeremiah chapter 10, starting at verse When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put him in the stocks that were at the upper Benjamin gate (1-2). Dropping down to verse 7 and Jeremiah s talk with God, O LORD, You have deceived me and I was deceived; You have overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughing stock all day long; everyone mocks me. Each time I speak, I cry aloud; I proclaim 3

violence and destruction, because for me the word of the LORD has resulted in reproach and derision all day long (7-8). Also here in Lamentations 3, picking it up at verse 52, My enemies without cause hunted me down like a bird; they have silenced me in the pit (52-53). Going back to the book of Jeremiah in chapter 37. In was accused of trying to defect to the enemy., 37:15-16, he was accused of trying to defect, Then the officials were angry at Jeremiah and beat him, and they put him in jail for Jeremiah had come into the dungeon, that is, the vaulted cell (15-16). Then, he had a hearing before the king. Chapter 38 records that the king washed his hands of the matter and the leaders, took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchijah the king s son, which was in the court of the guardhouse; and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud. (5-6). We have never been through those extremes, but we know the pain of social suffering. Finally, there was the spiritual suffering. Jerusalem s suffering was because of their sin. Their sin brought God s anger. Look down at verse 42, We have transgressed and rebelled, You have not pardoned. You have covered Yourself with anger and pursued us; You have slain and have not spared (42-43). Their prayers were hindered. Look back up to verse 8, Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer. And again in verse 44, You have covered Yourself with a could so that no prayer can pass through. They were in spiritual darkness. No light, life or hope is seen. So Jeremiah writes in verse 6, In the dark places He has made me dwell, Like those who have long been dead. Many of our long, dark nights of spiritual suffering are not due to God s discipline on our sin, some are. The long dark night of suffering. It was, and is real. The question is, When I am there, what do I do?? The Way To The Light. Thankfully, God led Jeremiah to write more than a description of the long dark night of suffering. He directed him to write showing us the way to the light out of that darkest darkness. Psalm 30 states some realities and a great promise. Verse 5, His [God s] anger 4

is but for a moment, His favor for a lifetime; weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning. But, we sometimes ask, shout in desperation, how dark, how long is the night! There is a way to the light. It is God s way, and it is certain. How long? When will the light break through? We do not know when we are in it. But there is hope. We see, through Jeremiah, five steps on God s way to the light. First is to come to terms with yourself and your world. Look at verse 39. Why should any living mortal, or any man, offer complaint in view of his sins? This is a very serious and sobering question. People usually ask, Why me? Why now? Why this? Jeremiah, suffering rejection and persecution, living through a holocaust, was able to realize the question really should be, Why not me? Why not now? Why not this? He was a godly, righteous, faithful man. But he, like all of us, lived in a sinful world, had sinned and so, Why should any living mortal, or any man, offer complaint in view of his sins? Yes, come to terms with yourself and your world. You and I live in a sinful world, a world in which bad things happen to all people, including God s people. You and I sin, and bad things happen. We can easily see some natural consequences, such as speeding and getting a ticket. We cannot as easily see the supernatural consequences of our sin and God s discipline. When you come to terms with yourself and your world, it helps keep you from accusing God, from distancing yourself from Him in those tough times. It helps keep you from the extreme poles of blaming yourself for everything and blaming yourself for nothing. It helps keep you depending on God. The next step is to realize that God s lovingkindness and compassion never end. Look at verse 22. Some of you have memorized verses 22 and 23, The LORD S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. Many people who hear these verses in isolation, lifted out of this setting, think they must have come from a time of great blessing. We know by now that is not so. These verses, this grand confession of faith and hope came out of a terrible time. The word lovingkindness, as the NAB translates it, is perhaps the most beautiful word in the Bible. It speaks of God s gracious, committed, never-changing love. In your darkest, longest nights, even when you cannot see, let alone find hope and God Himself, this truth does not change. Our circumstances never change who and what God is. 5

And so, in the numb, despair-drenched, dark night come to terms with yourself and your world and then also realize that God s lovingkindness and compassion never end. The third step on the way to the light is to rely on God to be your portion. Verse 24, The LORD is my portion, says my soul, therefore I have hope in Him. We may not be familiar with this image, but it is a very beautiful and important one. In Numbers 18 God instructs Aaron in the duties and way of life for the Levites, those who assisted the priests. The rest of the people had land given to them. They were, in turn to bring offerings that would provide for the priests and Levites. In verse 20 of that chapter we read, Then the LORD said to Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land nor any portion among them; I am your portion and inheritance among the sons of Israel. That is, those serving God were to look directly to God Himself for their provision, security and future, which God would supply through the rest of the people. While the rest of the people enjoyed land, the principle was to be true for them as well. King David, with great wealth and power, testified, The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and cup; You support my lot (Psalm 16:5). So, for us it means that we are to use all the resources God has given with wisdom, His wisdom. Whatever you have or don t have, however bad it is, however great the danger, devastating the loss, God will support you, provide for you; He is your portion. Step number 4 is to examine yourself. Check out verse 40, Let us examine and probe our ways. And let us return to the LORD. The picture is of a complete, thorough examination. This can be painful at times, painful, but necessary. This is not just a quick glance, but a thorough examination, exploration of our deepest motives and desires. Step number 5 builds on this, then we are to turn to God. Still in verse 40, Let us examine and probe our ways, and let us return to the LORD. We lift up our heart and hands toward God in heaven. Whatever we find as we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in selfexamination, the response should be to turn completely, totally to God and rely on Him. That includes confessing and repenting of sin that we find and also praising God for His faithfulness, all that He gives that comes to our mind. These steps are not a neat formula, they are not a promise of an easy, quick fix. But there is here the unshakable certainty of God in His faithfulness to be with you, provide for you. And, yes, in His time and His way He will lead to see the sun shine again. 6

Conclusion Finding hope in the darkest night. As I conclude, let me draw you to one other picture of this. Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 are actually one poem. It is a hauntingly beautiful lament of one who is far from Jerusalem, the temple there, and who feels far from God. One who is in a long, dark night. It opens, As the deer pants for the waterbrooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God? It closes, You are the god of my strength; why have You rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling places. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God. Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God (43:2-5) As you turn to God now to reflect on the truth in this part of His Word and resopnd to it, for those of us who find the sun shining brightly today, who feel close to God, are enjoying His blessings; life is good, thank God. Also look back to your last long, dark night. Thank God for where you are today. Realize that this truth of God is for you, this way to the light is not only God s provision for future tough times, but it is also the way to stay in the light. Commit yourself to God s way, God s path, now, always. For those of us who do not see the sun shining today, the skies of life are filled with dark storm clouds, or you are in a very dark and long night of suffering, you can find hope, real hope to lift you up, keep you going, even if your circumstances do not change. The morning will come for you with its shout of joy. Do not let the pain and fear immobilize you. Reach out to God, get on, stay on His path to the light. 7