Lamentations 3:22-23

BIG IDEA: Yesterday’s mercies were for yesterday’s burdens. Today’s mercies are for today’s burdens.

God hat not promised, skies always blue,

Flower-strewn pathways, all our lives through;

God hath not promised, Sun without rain

Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

But God hath promised, Strength for the day,

Rest for the labor, Light for the way,

Grace for the trials, Help from above,

Unfailing sympathy, Undying love.

–Annie Johnson Flint

INTRODUCTION

Lamentations is a book filled with songs of mourning. The prophet Jeremiah, who wrote the book, is often referred to as “the weeping prophet.” This was a melancholy prophet! There were many reasons for his sadness.

• His beloved city of Jerusalem was ransacked, desecrated, and destroyed by the Babylonian invasion.
• He was hated, rejected, mocked, imprisoned, and ignored.

And so Jeremiah wrote from a deep place of pain. He was exhausted, worn out, frustrated, and hurting. But in our passage today, there is a shift that happens in the tone of the book that casts a ray of hope in the midst of weeping and mourning. In fact, from a place of deep pain, there is an explosion of praise.

This is a good lesson for us. When you have exhausted all other resources, when you have run out of energy, and when there are no answers to your questions, hope is the only option. Hope does not mean that things are not bad; it simply means that you have determined in your heart to wait upon God for the solution and provision to your problems.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul. ‘Therefore, I will hope in Him.’” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

EXPLANATION

1. The Unfailing Love of God
   • This means that the love of God is loyal, committed, and settled.
   • There is safety in this love. There is security in this love.
   • It’s a new year, it’s a new day, and God is still love.
   • J.I. Packer wrote, in Knowing God, “What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact that underlies it–that He knows me…I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him because He first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who moves me; and there is no moment when His eye is off me, or His attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when His care falters. This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort…in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination for me.”
   • The famed theologian Karl Barth was once asked, “What is the greatest thought you ever had?” His answer was, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
2. The Unfailing Mercy of God.
   • Webster defines mercy as “refraining from harming offenders…a disposition to forgive or be kind…a blessing.” Mercy is choosing not to give something to someone for something they deserve or have done.
     1. With justice, you get what you deserve.
     2. With grace, you get what you don’t deserve.
     3. With mercy, you don’t get what you deserve.
   • Let’s illustrate:
     1. You are caught speeding. You are given a $200 ticket. That’s justice.
     2. You are caught speeding. You are given a $200 ticket. The Officer then pays the fine with his own money. That’s grace.
     3. You are caught speeding. You are not given a $200 ticket. That’s mercy.
   • Here again:
     1. You are caught sinning. You die and are sent to hell. That’s justice.
     2. You are caught sinning. You are condemned to die, but Jesus Christ dies for you to give you eternal life. That is grace.
     3. You are caught sinning. You are not condemned because of God’s grace gift in your life. That is mercy.
   • Dwight Pentecost used to say, “Mercy is God’s ministry to the miserable.”
     1. When there is mistreatment, there is mercy.
     2. When there is misadventure, there is mercy.
     3. When there are misdeeds, there is mercy.
     4. When there is mayhem, there is mercy…
   • God has the resources to match your requirements. Where ever you fall short, God has enough resources to meet your requirements. 
     1. Short on forgiveness? He has bags of it.
     2. In need of mercy? He overflows with it.
     3. Need a second-chance? That’s His specialty.
   • God has the compassion to match your circumstances.
     1. Unrighteous? He offers you the righteousness of His Son.
     2. Sin? He offers you the sinless perfections of His Son.
     3. Dying? He offers you eternal life through His Son.
   • It’s a new year, it’s a new day, and God is still merciful.
3. The Unfailing Faithfulness of God.
   • “Great is your faithfulness.” God is rich in faithfulness. Even when we are faithless, He remains faithful.
   • His faithfulness is an extension of His love for you. A love that never fails nor fades. Because He loves you, He remains faithful.
     1. God’s love is steadfast. He is faithful. God’s love never changes. It never increases. It never waxes nor wanes. He is steady.
     2. God’s love is secure. He is faithful. Nothing can separate you from God’s love. Nothing! It’s safe and secure.
     3. God’s love is stable. He is faithful. We are used to people falling in and out of love. It’s here today and gone tomorrow. Sometimes it appears that the love we receive or don’t receive changes by the minute. But God’s character remains the same yesterday, today, and forever.
   • Because of God’s great love, we can experience His great faithfulness.
   • It’s a new year, it’s a new day, and God is still faithful.

APPLICATION

1. Your outlook is determined by your uplook. How you see the world around you is determined by your view of God. Big God = small problems. Small God = Big problems.
2. Your failures are met with His faithfulness. Your mistakes are meet with His mercy.
3. Your loneliness is met by His love. You may feel at times lonely, but you are never alone.
4. Your weeping should be met with worship. Yes, tears will fall, but as they fall down, lift up your head and worship the God who has everything under His control.

CONCLUSION

John Piper wrote:

What will become of our children? Will they believe? Or will they forsake the way of righteousness?

What will become of our health? Will we go blind or deaf or lose our memories? Who will take care of us? Will we spend the last 10 years of our lives out-living all our friends and family, abandoned, slumped over in a wheelchair at rural nursing home?

What will become of our marriages? Will we ever trust again? Will we laugh and play and pray and talk in peace? Will we be there for the children? Will we be there for each other? Will it be sad and strained and dissatisfying for 30 or 40 more years? What will it be like tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow?

What will become of our church? What will tomorrow bring? Or Wednesday? Or next Sunday? Or a year from now? Or ten years from now?… Will we be winning the lost, and standing for righteousness, and delivering the oppressed, and sending more and more missionaries to the unreached peoples…and worshiping with white-hot zeal for the glory and grace of our great God?

What about tomorrow? Will we have the strength to live tomorrow when it comes? And to live it well and wisely and even joyfully, no matter what God’s measure of pain and pleasure?

It’s the phrase “they are new every morning” that gives me this great confidence that each day’s mercies—each day’s kindnesses—are given specifically for that day. Ponder that with me. Let it sink in. “His mercies . . . are new every morning.”

Why are they new every morning? Why does God do it that way? It’s not because yesterday’s mercies were bad or weak. It’s because they were yesterday’s.’s burdens. They are new every morning. They are like the manna in the wilderness: you can’t keep it overnight. Enough comes for each day. You live on God day by day, or you don’t live on God...

A special mercy for each hour. The mercy to carry you through this hour is given in this hour. (https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/todays-mercies-for-todays-troubles)