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The Bible Breakdown
Lamentations 03: New Every Morning
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, lamentations chapter 3, and today's title is New Every Morning, new Every Morning. What I love about the book of Lamentations is that no matter how bad things get, no matter what's going to happen, new happens every morning, like there's just something beautiful about that idea that there's always a fresh start at the beginning of every day. We'll get into that in just a moment, but if you like what we're doing here, then while you're going to Lamentations chapter three, don't forget to make sure and like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Also, make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. They're doing an amazing job over there and it is just an honor to read what they are writing, especially when it comes to the book of Lamentations. So make sure you go in there, because the more we dig, the more we find. Well, as you're getting into Lamentations chapter 3, let me remind you that the overall scope of Lamentations is hope in darkness, hope in this difficult time that Jeremiah has found himself in. If you've been walking with us for a little while, we finished Jeremiah recently and we discovered that Jeremiah he unfortunately spent his entire ministry being faithful to God and telling them hey, bad things are coming, but they didn't listen. Jerusalem was destroyed, and now he is writing this series of five poems talking about the grief that he's experiencing, and one of the things that we have all heard is that you never truly know what a difficult time is until you go through it yourself. I've heard people who have talked about how you know. You don't know what it's like to lose a child, you don't like what it is for a spouse to pass away, or just something devastating unless you walk through it yourself. And it can be hard for us to get in our minds just what it was like for Jeremiah, as he loved his nation, he loved these people, and yet they've been destroyed. But the thing is that's amazing is, even in the middle of this darkness, there's hope. There's this wonderful theologian whose name is Thomas Schreiner, and he says that the best way to look at Lamentations is not 1 through 5, but it is chapter 3, looking backward, and chapter 3, looking forward. And so this right here is actually the pivotal chapter, because it talks about God's mercy, is new every morning, and we look behind us. There may be grief. We look ahead of us. There may be grief on the way, but if we stay in the moment, we realize God's faithful. So let's read this together in the middle of this dark season in Jeremiah's life, let's see what God's word is still teaching us today. You ready Lamentations?
Speaker 1:Chapter 3, verse 1, says this I am the one who has seen the afflictions that come from the rod of the Lord's anger. He has led me into darkness, shutting out all light. He has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. He has made my skin and flesh to grow old. He has broken my bones. He has besieged me and surrounded me in anguish and distress. He has buried me in a dark place, like those long dead. He has walled me in and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains and though I cry and shout, he has shut out my prayers. He has blocked my way with a high stone wall. He has shut out my prayers. He has blocked my way with a high stone wall. He has made my road crooked. He is hidden like a bear or a lion waiting to attack me. He has dragged me off the path and torn me into pieces, leaving me helpless and devastated. He has drawn his bow and made me the target of his arrows. He shot his arrows deep into my heart. My own people laugh at me All day long. They sing their mocking songs. He has filled me with bitterness and has given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink. He has made me chew on gravel. He has rolled me in the dust. Peace has been stripped away and I have forgotten what prosperity.
Speaker 1:So pause for a moment before we read this beautiful verse, as I have grieved over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this. So pause for a moment before we read this beautiful verse. Jeremiah is saying all of these bad things have happened and they're all things I brought on myself and I've experienced the most worst things imaginable. What I love is, he says, I still dare to have hope. Like in the face of the darkest things imaginable, I still dare to have hope. And this is why he says I still dare to have hope when I remember this and here it is verse 22, that the faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness and his mercies begin afresh. Each morning, I say to myself the Lord is my inheritance. Therefore, I will hope in him.
Speaker 1:The Lord is good to those who depend on him, those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for the salvation from the Lord. It is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of his discipline. Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord's demands. Let them lie face. This is important Verse 33. By the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love. This is important Verse 33, for he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.
Speaker 1:For if people crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land and if they deprive others of their rights, in defiance of the most high God, if they twist justice in the courts of their rights and defiance of the Most High God, if they twist justice in the courts, doesn't the Lord see all these things? Who can command these things to happen without the Lord's permission? Does not the Most High send both calamity and good? Then why should we mere humans complain when we are punished for our sins? Instead, let us test and examine our ways and turn back to the Lord. Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven and say we have sinned and rebelled, for you have not forgiven us and have engulfed us with your anger, chased us down and slaughtered us without mercy. You have hidden yourself in a cloud so our prayers cannot reach you. You have discarded us as refuse and garbage among the nations. All our enemies have spoken out against us. We are filled with fear. We are trapped, devastated and ruined. Tears stream from my eyes because of the destruction of my people. My tears flow endlessly. They will not stop until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees. My heart is breaking over the fate of all the women of Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:My enemies, whom I have never harmed, hunted me down like a bird. They threw me into a pit and dropped stones on me. The water rose over my head and cry out this is the end. But I called on your name, lord, from deep within the pit. You heard me when I cried. Listen to my pleading. Hear my cry for help. Yes, you came when I called. You told me do not fear, lord. You have come to my defense and you have redeemed my life. You have seen the wrong that they have done to me. Lord, be my judge and prove me right. You have seen the vengeful plots my enemies have laid against me, lord. You have heard the vile names they call me. You know all about the plans they have made. My enemies whisper and mutter and they plot against me all day long. Look at them, whether they sit or stand, I am the object of their mocking songs. Pay them back, lord. Wow, I mean, there's both difficulty, beauty and difficulty again.
Speaker 1:So let's talk application Based on what God's Word says. What can we apply today? And that is this First of all, if you remember, all the way back in chapter 1, we talked about the idea of learning to cry, learning to be honest before God when we're going through a difficult season or something difficult is happening in our life, and then to ask God the hard questions. Chapter 2, we talked about the idea of did God abandon us? Is God still here? But then, in chapter 3, we dare to have hope and trust in God. And that's the question I want to ask you today, and that is this Is it possible for you to dare to hope in God, to realize that maybe what's going on in your life is can we be honest?
Speaker 1:Maybe it's of your own doing, maybe you made some mistakes, you sinned, you did some bad things and you are reaping the outflow of what you have done. Maybe, like Jeremiah, you're experiencing the judgment based on something you didn't do, but you got caught up in the net of what else was going on. Is it possible that you can trust God and still dare to have hope, because you believe that the mercies of the Lord are still new every morning, can I tell you, god is always just. That doesn't mean bad things are not going to happen. What it does mean is bad things are not the only thing that's going to happen, that God is going to be with you.
Speaker 1:And you may not understand in the moment, but it's so hard to understand the end of a story when you're still in the middle of it. You ever read a wonderful book and got to the middle of it and closed the book and just felt so dissatisfied. Well, of course not. You finished the book and when you get to the end of it you go oh, no wonder I was only halfway through. Is it possible that in your own life, the reason why you're upset and devastated about what God has done or hasn't done is because you're still reading the middle of the story? What would it look like if you finished the story and realized truly I can dare to have hope, because the love of the Lord endures forever and his mercies never cease.
Speaker 1:Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, lord, that you're with us and you're for us in every way. God, I'll admit that sometimes it seems as though you're not close, that you're far away. But, lord, I realize in those moments is because the story's not over. You're still moving, you're still doing things. I pray you'll open our eyes today to see that, to see that we're not at the end, we're just in the middle and we can trust you in all things. In Jesus' name we pray Amen, amen. Well, don't forget. God's word says Lamentations 3, verse 22, and we read it today the faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease. You're not at the end of your story, you're just in the middle and God is doing more than you realize. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Lamentations, chapter 4.
