The Happy Funeral Dirge: Part II

[Continued from Part I]

Moses in Deuteronomy 30 promised restoration for repentance (Deut. 30:1-10-paraphrased).

When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.

..IF…and this is a huge if…

(v.10) … If you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

We leave Moses in Deuteronomy and return to Jeremiah in Lamentations….When we reach the middle of Lamentations Chapter 3 something changes also. Instead of a unrelenting bleakness…the tone changes. *BANG!* We hit the brakes on verse 21. What is that? Is that…nah… it can’t be…it is! It’s hope! We see optimism for the future. It’s like the eye of the storm. We see hope and God’s loving-kindness and mercy of all things surfaces right in the middle of Lamentations only to be swallowed back up by chapter 4. Right in the middle of all of our suffering & misery the seed of hope & restoration resides.

In our trials character is built.

In the heat of the furnace steel is tempered and hardened.

Under intense pressure diamonds are formed.

In grief there will be compassion.

In loss there is love.

So if we read the main body of Jeremiah’s reprieve of hope dead center in this giant Hebrew chiastic we see God’s grace…

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD…

…Let him bury his face in the dust— there may yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace. For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. Lamentations 3:21-33

Jeremiah mourns the fall of Jerusalem--but also offers instruction and hope to its survivors. He mourns his people’s sin---but offers Godly direction. Even after Israel has messed up, God forgives. Even after God spends his wrath He restores his people. We see that even after utter failure there is hope. There is always the possibility of another brighter tomorrow in God, in Christ. In the end…God can and will restore all things to His glory. Even a sinner such as I. But this restoration is clearly conditioned upon certain actions by us. He expects us to change. He expects repentance that comes from the heart. Repentance is remorse from past actions. A heart change to turn from sin and turn towards God.

Lamentations 3:40 is clear, “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven…"

For us today, we are to examine our ways to assure that we are in Christ, not in rebellion against Him. If we fail to do this self-check daily seeking forgiveness we will certainly end up in rebellion against Him.

So what can we take away from Lamentations and Chapter 3 in particular?

First and foremost we see that even when man slips-up: God is faithful. We should try our best to adhere to God’s commands and do the correct Biblical things. We shouldn’t follow our own whims & intellect especially when it goes against God’s word. We clearly cannot follow the “wisdom of fools” in culture who do not revere God. In the case of Jerusalem they did what was right according to the world and reaped a harvest of destruction.

Second, we see that God is worthy of our praise for his loving-kindness. Jeremiah sings the praises of God’s merciful loving-kindness in these verses 21-33. We see in (v.22) Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed. The words “great love” here is the Hebrew word: Hesed. Hesed is a covenant love that leads to mercy. This means that dead-center in the middle of the most depressing section of Scripture in a giant piece of chiastic Hebrew poetry we see love & hope and a promise of a brighter tomorrow…if we repent. It’s called tough love. Spank the child then hug them.

Jeremiah is standing in the ruins of his beloved city, in the midst of desolation, in the middle of his lament…and we see him reciting a litany of hope and love.

(1) The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.

(2) The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him

(3) It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

(4) For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.

God is a God that looks down on sinners, like us, and has mercy & compassion. God gives a forgiving compassion that we as sinners do not deserve. It’s forgiveness by God that “takes the initiative”. It’s called grace and it is based in an unconditional love. It’s God’s unconditional love that is our hope.

In 1 Corinthians 13:5 it says: “love…it keeps no record of wrongs”. That is what God did for Israel and it’s what He will do for us…only if we repent or our sins. Ironically it’s 2 Corinthians 13:5 tells us to: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” If we fail the test we are to repent and return to the LORD, just as Jeremiah tells Israel in Lamentations.

In the end we need to continually do a ruthless & honest moral inventory of ourselves. This requires us to admit things about ourselves that we’d rather not. If we truly love God and others we will do these inventories and we will find our faults and we will repent and seek forgiveness. If we do not find our faults…God will. Personally, I’d rather find them myself and repent. It seems as though this would be the less painful route.

Lastly, we see that God is worthy of our praise for his Son. We reach this clincher or summation of Lamentations 3 in verses 57-58. It is this verse that helps us ties the loose ends together and we also see the bridge to the New Testament and Jesus Christ.

“You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not fear!” O Lord, You have pleaded my soul’s cause; You have redeemed my life.

Even at the very bottom of a pit of despair & doubt there is hope. And it is because God first loved us and extends us grace. Even when things look bleak God is there for us to call on. As long as there is breath in our lungs there is hope.

The whole point of the misery of Lamentations is that there is hope within all suffering - if God’s involved. The whole point of obedience is to avoid that suffering. The whole point of repentance is to avoid continued suffering. That hope, that obedience and that repentance is all based in Jesus Christ.

Knowing Jesus loves us and is there for us…gives us hope for tomorrow.

Knowing Jesus loves us and is there for us…gives us hope for next year.

Knowing Jesus loves us and is there for us…gives us hope until we reach eternity

If there is repentance there will be restoration...that is the pattern all throughout Scripture.

For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5

Every dark cloud has a silver lining.