Lamentations 3 is a description on how to have hope while grieving. Jeremiah and the people of Judah are grieving and broken over the destruction of Jerusalem. It is a time of shock, loss, and anguish. We have seen in our study of Lamentations that grief is not a straight line. We saw the prophet teaching the people in Lamentations 1 to offer their honest cries to the Lord. In Lamentations 2 we saw the prophet struggling with what God has done. But in the midst of this struggle, the prophet has proclaimed in Lamentations 3 that he will have hope when he sets his mind on the steadfast love of the Lord (cf. Lamentations 3:21-22). We noted in the last lesson from Lamentations 3 that the author speaks about the battle of the mind. When he thinks about his bitter affliction, then his soul is bowed within him. But when he thinks on the faithful love of the Lord, then he can have hope. This sets before us how the prophet teaches his readers to move forward with hope. The point of Lamentations 3 is not to simply think positive thoughts. The point is to realize the hope we can have because of God’s unchanging love and compassion for his people. But this hope is not theoretical. The rest of Lamentations 3 teaches us how to apply the knowledge of God’s steadfast and faithful love to our grief. Open your copies of God’s word to Lamentations 3 and we are going to finish our look at this lamentation and see how God’s character gives us hope through our grief.
God Does Not Take Joy In Our Grief (Lamentations 3:28-33)
The prophet teaches the people that they can have hope in the fact that God does not take any pleasure in the grief of his people. In verses 31-32 we read that even if the Lord may have to bring grief, he will show us compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love. This is great news in itself. But keep reading to verse 33 where God does not afflict or cause sorrow from his heart. I think the best way we can understand this picture is when we consider the relationship of the parent and the child. Parents must discipline. Parents have to afflict and bring sorrow to their children. There is no avoiding it. Parents must make decisions that are in the best interests of the children that the children do not understand and may not like. Parents must discipline against rebellion and disobedience. Parents have to say no to their children. But here is the important idea. Good parents do not take joy in their heart from these actions. Good parents are not excited to discipline but know that they must. Good parents are not happy to tell a child no, but they know that they must do this.
This is how God is being pictured as our Father to us. God does not take joy in our grief. God does not say no to us from his heart. God does not want to see us afflicted. This is how we have hope in our grief. We know that if God could say yes to our request, he would. We know that God does not want us to grieve. But God is our Father and he is doing what is in our best interest. While we do not understand, we are comforted by the compassion of God’s abundant steadfast love. God is not against us. Though he brings grief, he does not do so from his heart.
Seek The Lord In Our Grief (Lamentations 3:34-42)
The prophet teaches the people to use their grief to seek the Lord. Use the time for spiritual reflection rather than for complaining. Verses 37-38 remind the audience that God is in control. Verse 38 sounds similar to what Job proclaimed to his wife in Job 2:10. We must accept the good and the adversity that comes from the Lord. So how can we complain? Suffering and grief often tempt us to complain. The prophet warns against complaining here. Remember, in the context of Lamentations, the people are experiencing destruction because of their sins. Why would anyone complain when they are dealing with the consequences for their sins? Yet we find a way to do this. Further, why would we complain when we understand that God does not grieve us from his heart and that God is ruling over the earth? We can trust the Lord because of the abundance of his steadfast love.
Then the prophet tells the people to examine our ways, test them, and return to the Lord (Lamentations 3:40). Lift up your hearts and your hands to God in heaven (Lamentations 3:41). I wonder how often we do this. How often do we consider our ways? How often do we test the path we took this week? How often do we think about what we have been saying and doing? Sometimes we only think about examining ourselves when someone reads 1 Corinthians 11:28 in preparation for partaking of the Lord’s Supper. But the New Testament tells us that we need to test ourselves and examine ourselves regularly.
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV)
The apostle Paul says in Galatians 6:4 that we need to test our own work. He told us to test everything and hold fast to what is good (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:21). Peter said to test the spirits of the teachers to see whether they are from God (cf. 1 John 4:1). There is such a danger to live life in cruise control, not thinking about the brevity of life, the priorities we make in our lives, and appreciating the moments that God gives to us. Grief jars us back into reality so that we will examine ourselves, rather than complain. Then lift up your heart and hands to God in heaven.
It is important that we think about how our suffering and grief may have caused our heart to drift away from the Lord. We might think that we do not need to repent. We might think we have not done anything wrong. We might think that we have perfectly handled our suffering and grief. But let grief really test us. Grief must be the spiritual realignment we need.
Relief Will Come In God’s Time (Lamentations 3:55-66)
Finally, we put our hope in knowing that God will help and give us the relief we need at the right time, which is in his time. Notice this picture in verse 55. The prophet describes being in the depths of the pit. Have you been there? Have you felt like you were in a deep hole that you were never going to escape? But while he feels like in he is in the pit, the Lord heard his plea. You see in verse 56 that he was pleading to the Lord for help. In verse 57 we read that the Lord came near and told him to not be afraid. Relief will come at the right time. I cannot tell you how many times I really did not think I was going to make it another day in our difficulty only for the Lord to give the necessary break we needed.
You see that the prophet speaks about how people were against him with their insults and vengeful plots (cf. Lamentations 3:59-63). When we studied the book of Jeremiah we saw that he was under constant persecution and duress from his people and his own family. Here is what I am wanting us to notice. Our hope is not that God will keep us from all suffering and grief. Our hope is not that God will protect us from any negative events in our lives. Our hope is that God is near when we call to him and he will give relief in his time. We have no reason to fear whatever comes next in our lives. We know God is in control and God will help us in our time of need. This allows us to leave the future and the present in God’s hands. The prophet is able to ask God to do something about what is happening to him (cf. Lamentations 3:63-66). He can leave his mistreatment in God’s hands. Whatever we are going through, we can leave what we are experiencing in God’s hands. He will answer, he will help, and he will give relief in his time.
Hope In The Darkness
I would like to bring us back to a text in John 11 that we looked at earlier in this sermon series. Turn back to John 11 where we read about the grief of Martha and Mary, who have lost their brother, Lazarus. These women had sent for Jesus to come because Lazarus was sick. But Jesus did not come and Lazarus died. You see in John 11:19 that many people have come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the grief. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him. Listen to what Martha says to Jesus.
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” (John 11:21-22 ESV)
In the last lesson we focused on how Martha and Mary both do not understand why Jesus did not come. They knew that if Jesus had come, then Lazarus would not have died. But notice that what Martha says is not a complaint. Notice that she has hope in this dark time. She has hope in her grief. What is her hope when all hope is lost? Her hope is that even now she knows that whatever Jesus asks from God, God will give to him. Is this not a wonderful summary of what we have looked at in this lesson? She understands that Jesus is not taking any joy in their grief. Jesus did not come. Jesus did not do what they asked and there must be a reason for this. She also seeks Jesus in her grief. When she heard that Jesus was coming, she did not lock the door. She did not leave for the market to avoid Jesus. She does not ignore Jesus or run from Jesus. She goes to Jesus. She seeks Jesus in her grief. Finally, she understands that Jesus is going to do his work in his time. Though Jesus did not come when she asked, she knows that God will do whatever he asks. She is saying to Jesus that she is here for whatever Jesus is going to do. I do not understand what you are doing. But I am here for whatever you are going to do. Martha lived what the prophet in Lamentations is preaching. This is how we have hope in the darkness of grief.