Put Your Hope in the Lord!

6th Sunday after Pentecost, 7/5/15
Lamentations 3:22-33


Put Your Hope in the Lord!
I. Because he disciplines those he loves
II. Because his compassions never fail


In what looks like a hate-crime, a young adult enters a Bible study at a predominantly African-American church, hangs around for an hour, and then opens fire and murders 9 people in cold blood.

In more than one Middle East location, Christians are forcibly detained by Muslim extremists, hooded and then brutally executed.

A local mother is convicted of killing her own child.

With each passing day, the gap between the “Haves” and the “Have-nots” widens. More US citizens than ever before are dependent on government subsidy.

Our national debt keeps rising at an alarming pace. And who will suffer for it? Our children.

I’m counting on Social Security for my retirement, but that may be a pipe dream. Its viability is uncertain to say the least.

And then there’s the latest set-back for Christians and morality in our country. The Supreme Court struck down state laws that define marriage as one man and one woman. What’s next? We shake our heads in disbelief and despair.

Is it ever going to get better? Don’t count on it. In fact, Jesus himself declared that our world would get increasingly worse as the end draws near.

By now you might be saying to yourself, “OK, Pastor! Enough! I know how bad things are. That’s one of the reasons I came here to church this morning. So, is there any good news? Is there any hope for a Christian in hopeless times?”

Indeed there is. Where? Where’s it’s always been. Where it’s always and only been. In the Lord. That’s where the inspired writer of our text points us this morning. To our loving Lord. Put your hope in the Lord. Follow me as we listen to the Lord tell us why that’s such saving advice.

Part I.

We’ve all been there. We’re in terrible situation that lingers on and on and, the longer it does, the more we’re convinced that no one has ever suffered this much. No one’s physical pain has ever been this bad. No one’s heart has ever been broken like this. No one’s life is as bad as your life is right now. It’s brutal and you can’t take it any longer.

And then you begin to ask yourself why it’s happening to you. There doesn’t appear to be any rational reason for it. But the truth is, sometimes we have had a part in it. There are times in our lives when we have brought on ourselves, at least in some measure, the pain we’re going through. If we had made better decisions, if we had listened to the advice our loved ones gave, if we had followed our heads and not our hearts, we wouldn’t be going through this right now, at least not to this degree. Yes, we know why we’re suffering.

But most times we don’t. We can’t trace our current painful situation back to anything we said or did. From a purely human perspective, we’re completely innocent but we’re suffering as if we were guilty. And then we start speculating. What did I do, even if it was so long ago, to deserve this from God? The correct answer to that question is, “Nothing.” God doesn’t pay us back for our sins. He made his Son pay for them for us.

So, why? Why are we suffering? Our loving Lord would have us focus on four answers.

First, we live in a sinful world. From the moment after the first sin took place nothing has gone right in our world, at least not perfectly right. The Bible describes all of creation groaning in the frustration of sin. Cancer. Fatal accidents. Natural disasters. Man’s inhumanity to man. Pain. Suffering. That’s our sinful world.

And the Lord allows them to occur. He doesn’t intervene every time a painful event is going to take place. He can. He does. But not every time. He allows disease and unemployment and financial burdens to occur as a reminder that we live in a sinful world.

He uses our troubles to train and teach us. More than once in our lives we think things can’t get any worse. In reality, we haven’t seen anything yet. Jeremiah is almost certainly the writer of these words. During the siege of Jerusalem he witnessed cannibalism—among God’s own chosen people!! It’s unthinkable! But it happened. And listen to his reaction to everything that God’s people were suffering, “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him.” It’s good? How? To wait patiently and see how the Lord uses that terrible situation to actually help his people.

And, ultimately, like all good things, all bad things eventually come to an end. We’ve seen it happen countless times in history. Polio, swine flu, Ebola. Nero, Hitler, Stalin. Polar vortex, droughts, floods. The Lord, in his infinite wisdom, brings them to an end. We see it happen. Or, it lingers on and he calls us home to heaven. Jeremiah was correct in writing, “For men are not 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 the children of men.”

Ultimately our loving Lord is disciplining us. He’s driving us to trust in him. He wants every difficulty of life to fill us with a deeper yearning for our life with him in heaven. Are your troubles doing that for you? Then praise God. Where’s our hope in hopeless times? Put your hope in the Lord because he disciplines those he loves.

Are you facing troubles in your life? Who isn’t? If it’s not worry over your latest health test results, it’s worry over your weekly finances. Sometimes the only thing worse than the problems we face at our place of employment is unemployment. Times of joy come less and less while times of pain and trouble increase. And when those troubles occur, realize what your old evil foe is telling you. He sounds like this: “God isn’t so good. In fact, he doesn’t love you. If he did, he wouldn’t treat you like this. He’d help you. So, curse God and move on. At least then, you’ll have your dignity.” Realize that’s not your friend talking to you; it’s your worst enemy. And then believe what your loving Lord declares to you. “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” If your Lord didn’t love you, would he have sacrificed his Son for your sins so that you could enjoy forgiveness every day of your life and eternal life with him when this lousy life is over? Of course not! So trust him! Put your hope in him. Realize that what’s happening is simply discipline from your loving Lord which he uses to draw you closer to him.

Part II.

More than once as a child I recall my parents sending me to get something. When I couldn’t immediately find it, I returned to them and announced that the item wasn’t there. And you can guess what they said. “Go back and look harder. I know it’s there.”

The writer of our text begins this section talking about the Lord’s compassions in the midst of trouble. Really? Compassions? When we’re hopelessly suffering? Indeed, compassions.

If you don’t immediately see them, you need to go back and look harder for them. They’re there. Our text declares, “For his compassions never fail.” His compassions aren’t like intermittent rain—here one minute and gone the next. His compassions are not like joy—we experience it for a while and then it’s gone and we don’t know when it will return. His compassions never fail. They are always there. You just need to look a little harder for them.

In fact, the writer declares, “They are new every morning; great is [the Lord’s] faithfulness.” New compassions in the midst of hopeless trouble? How so?

First, he removes what’s troubling us. Jeremiah, the one who likely wrote these words, didn’t suffer forever. The Lord in his compassion ended his suffering. He does the same for us.

And as long as our troubles endure, he helps us bear up. Recall how many dark times in your life have been brightened by a familiar verse of Scripture or a comforting hymn verse? His compassions never fail. They are new.

Finally, he calls us home to heaven. This week I had the blessed opportunity to watch as the Lord called Roger Koepp home to heaven. It’s never easy watching a person slowly die. It’s brutal at times. But it ends. And the angels came and carried Roger’s soul home to heaven and now he lives in the mansion Jesus prepared for him. There’s a room there for you and me as well. We’ll wait—sometimes painfully wait—until the Lord calls us home, too. There’s hope in hopeless times.

Put your hope in the Lord because his compassions never fail.

What are your expecting out of life? That you live happily and pain-free? Of course not, but there are times when we wish the Lord would show us a little more compassion. You’re probably looking in the wrong places. Go back and look again. Look at a hill called Calvary. There’s where his compassion caused him to die for your sins. Look at an empty tomb. There’s where his compassion assures you he is risen for you and rules all things for you. Eternal life with him is yours by faith in him! There’s hope in hopeless times! Put your hope in the Lord! Amen.