Suffering

Bible Passage: Lamentations 3:19-26

In the fallen world in which we live, going through times of suffering and hardship is part of the common experience of humanity. Faith in Jesus does not mean escape from this, and often times even intensifies things as we will suffer in the way everyone else does, and also share in the sufferings of Christ as we encounter opposition for our faith from both human and spiritual sources. There are great joy in following Christ, but this joy is frequently accompanied with suffering. The suffering we face has the potential to deepen our faith (Romans 5:3-4) but also the potential to snuff that faith out (Matthew 13:20-21). In this sermon we explore some verses from Lamentations about how to walk as disciples through those times of suffering when they come.

Honesty About Circumstances (19-20): As the name of the book suggests, a lot of the focus of Lamentations is on the practice of lament, and this passage is no different. The verses begin with the honesty of the prophet about his situation. He speaks about what he is going through (verse 19) and how it is making him feel (verse 20) and he doesn’t sugar-coat things. Sometimes we can feel a pressure to downplay our hardships and present a ‘spiritually palatable’ version of events that does not chime with reality. But the Bible shows us a different way and does not shy away from laying out in harsh detail the adversity we endure in life and how it affect us. For disciples of Jesus it is a powerful practice to learn to accept and not avoid the har circumstances of life, and to cultivate an honesty in prayer where we can pour out to God in an unfiltered manner exactly what is happening and how it is affecting us.

Remembering God (21-23): Verse 21 is the pivot point in this passage as we see the author’s prayer move from the reality of the suffering to the reality of God. Both these things are true, and it is only as we bring them together that we find hope in the midst of the suffering. In verse 22 we see him anchoring his prayer in God’s hesed (covenant) love. He does not pretend the hardship doesn’t exist, but he does know that God’s love is sufficient and he will not be consumed. God has a track record of coming through, and we know this both from scripture and from testimonies in our own experience. God’s compassions never fail, and that offers the certain hope we need for the circumstances we are facing at the moment. And God’s mercy is not only something we received in the past. It is a constant day by day experience of God being good to us. When we face suffering we can come to God in trust that he will continue to provide new mercy for us each and every morning, and we can look out each day for where we see that goodness provided by him.

Waiting in Silence (24-26): Having remembered God’s goodness, the prophet then speaks about waiting for him patiently. Often this can be the hardest aspect of suffering. We trust God, but are not yet seeing the resolution of the situation. Sometimes things can get even worse when we lose patience and instead try to take things into our own hands. Our frantic efforts to ‘fix’ or escape from challenging situations can lead to destructive choices. There is a maturity and wisdom that comes from holding steady to the right path, even when that path involves suffering, trusting the the situation is in God’s hands and relying on him to bring us through the pain to find deliverance and salvation.

Potential Applications:

• There will be people present who are going through suffering right now. You can offer a gentle and sensitive time of prayer and ministry for them.
• For others, this is not the moment of suffering. In this case the application is to develop firm convictions about God, faith and suffering now, that will stand them in good stead for when the day of difficulty comes.