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Lamentations 3:22-26

God’s Unending Faithfulness

  • Shawn Dean
  • Sunday Night Messages
  • July 05, 2020

In Lamentations, the Prophet Jeremiah wrote about one of the darkest periods in Bible History.
There, Jeremiah oversaw the death of a nation…

All the more reason and significance concerning God’s faithfulness to His people – given our present-day challenges and circumstances.

I don’t know what you have going on in your life but God is merciful, has compassion for you, is sufficient. Don’t stop striving, don’t stop waiting on Him.

  • Sermon Notes
  • Scripture

GOD’S UNENDING FAITHFULNESS
Lamentations 3:22-26

July 5, 2020

Over the past 4 months I have spoken to many of you –

Most of you could not recall any other time in your life that your faith has been tested as much as the past 4 months.

As I’ve had these conversations I reflect on them the same way;
• God – what is your plan for our lives in this moment?
• What are you teaching your people in the midst of the trials our nation/our world is enduring?

Jeremiah 29:11; For I know the plans I have for you, de-clares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

In Lamentations the Prophet Jeremiah wrote about one of the darkest periods in Bible History.
There, Jeremiah oversaw the death of a nation…

All the more reason and significance concerning God’s faith-fulness to His people – given our present day challenges and circumstances.

I don’t know what you have going on in your life tonight –

• But God is merciful, has compassion for you, is suffi-cient, don’t stop striving, don’t stop waiting on Him.

• I chose this passage because I believe it is one of the most significant passages in Scripture for God to demonstrate His faithfulness to His people.

Psalm 119:75; I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

The year was 586BC, means nothing to Americans, but eve-rything to the historic Jewish nation –

The Prophet Jeremiah was writing about what he saw –
• The weeping prophet – because of the often gloomy na-ture of his message & the writing about what he saw
• No food – No water – the Temple burned. He was allowed to remain & not be taken away.

He was Lamenting over it – a strong cry – 5 Chapters.

I. Great Is Your Faithfulness

The Lord is good – wait quietly on the Lord.
Look at our uncertain world right now –

1. Covid-19 restrictions since March
2. Inconsistent reports creating all kinds of emotion
3. Cities experiencing destruction of property
4. A divided society
5. And then there’s the ongoing trials of life

Temptations come when we struggle to wait

But God is calling you to Himself tonight so you will draw near to Him so He will draw near to us. His promises begin with our relationship with Him.

A. Mercy in the midst of mayhem

Jeremiah focuses on God’s mercies – we are not consumed – death all around him – but not destroyed – An amazing statement really. A bright spot in book!

All of us will face mayhem & storms – life gets us used to the process of the unplanned. Life has a way of tracking you down.

His mercies are eternal for us.

Job 5:6-8; “For affliction does not come from the dust, Nor does trouble sprout from the ground, For man is born for trouble, As sparks fly upward. “But as for me, I would seek God,

Psalm 23:4; Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

It doesn’t say we will be airlifted out does it?

Some Christians still believe that God owes them a life that is free from pain and suffering…

• Be reminded, this is not the case for any of us.

“Mercies” ~ 250x in the OT
Sometimes translated as His loving kindness
• Hebrew it means Loyal Love =
God made a covenant with you & He will act in love and mercy towards you because of that covenant.

Focus on our great God in your life instead of the trials in your life –
• What often happens to us when we are faced with trouble in our lives?
• In that 1 moment we risk forgetting the 10,000 mercies already extended to us don’t we?
Jeremiah was watching the devastation yet he was thankful for God, for His many mercies in his life.

B. God’s resources will match your requirements

v23; they are new every morning –

This is saying to us – whatever need you have, whatever challenge you are facing today – God’s resources of covenant love is available to you – every day.

They are fresh each day – so we need to gather them every morning – to show our dependence on Him.
• When we don’t do that the challenges we face cause us to become weary.
• Yesterday’s failures are under the blood of Christ. Time to focus on today.

Matthew 6:24; “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

We all need to give God more time in the Word, in Prayer – gather the manna daily & receive the blessing of receiving God’s resources to match your needs.

Does today seem overwhelming? If you wait several days in between gathering manna you are missing out on His daily blessing in your life.

Perhaps this will help you redefine why daily time with Him is so important – it’s not a checklist – it’s an offer of His re-sources available to you fresh each day.

Illustration: Raising a large family –

v23; they are new every morning; Great is Your faithful-ness.

II. Respect God’s Word In Every Circumstance

Jeremiah is declaring what he KNOWS about God,
• not what he sees happening in Jerusalem –
• not what he smells from the destruction –
• not from the flesh crying out in massacre –
• BUT what he knows about God is His faithfulness!

2 Timothy 2:13; If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.
We don’t always notice what God is doing around us, but He is faithful, He is active, He is still on the throne.

When things happen in our lives that knock us down and we can’t make sense of it, we can’t understand it, we wonder why God didn’t cause a different result – lean into Him and trust His plan for your life.

So often we notice the black dots on the white sheet. NOT how much white there is on the sheet. Many are focused on-ly on all those dots in our life right now.

A. Let us reflect God’s goodness

Story of Thomas Obadiah Chisolm

“I must never fail to record the unfailing covenant of a faithful God…”

Refrain:
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see:
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
A song of compassion – Great is they faithfulness Lord!

B. How many promises do we need?

Someone once claimed to have counted God’s promises to man. The number is less important than the obvious ex-panse of it – he counted 7,487 promises.

A large number – coupled with His promise that His mercies are fresh each day – as we seek Him each day – should be a wonderful life of relieving the pressures and stress we are carrying on our shoulders this day.

He is sufficient – Jeremiah in the midst of fire in Jerusalem – he was satisfied with God and His plan.

C. Delays don’t always mean God’s denial

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.

The words of Jeremiah again indicate that some day he knows he will hear from God.

Some background here about Jeremiah – before the Book of Lamentations –

• He spent 40 years predicting the Babylonians are coming – his prophesy of what was coming.
• Do you think people listened to him?
• Now the day was upon them & he records it for us.

God’s delay, His timing, doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t happen.

Also in the Book of Jeremiah – a prediction – that a day will come when the city of Jerusalem will be restored. After 70 years of captivity God will restore Jerusalem.

Jeremiah was accustomed to waiting and hoping.

We aren’t good at waiting are we? You and I are not very good at waiting.

• We go – we buy – all of us don’t wait very well. Lessons from waiting –
• We begin to recognize God’s mercy in the midst of mayhem.
• We grab ahold of His resources in the midst of our requirements.
• We don’t always get what we want & we begin to say, “God, that’s ok” – His timing may simply mean not now.

Like a parent – God doesn’t necessarily mean no? We as parents often say, “not now” or “not yet” don’t we?

• We need to learn to let go more, to be more content in our circumstances.

Romans 8:31-32; What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

Mayhem – remember – our outlook is determined by your up-look. Our plans and the Lord’s will may not always match.

Adjust your expectations – leave room for divine adjust-ments in your life – say, Great is your faithfulness O Lord.

Lamentations 3:22-26
New American Standard Bible

22
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses [a]indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
23
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
25
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the [b]person who seeks Him.
26
It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.

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