tension

Water cooler conversation:  

  • What was your biggest win this week? What was your biggest challenge?

  • Do you make New Year's Resolutions? If so, what’s your resolution for 2022?

Unpack the Message:

Background: Similar to the book of Job, Lamentations pictures a man of God reflecting on the impact of evil and suffering. While Job deals with personal tragedy, Lamentations is the story of Jerusalem’s devastation told through the eyes of a brokenhearted prophet Jeremiah. Jerusalem had fallen to the Babylonians, and the city was in ruins. Yet, amid his mourning, Jeremiah finds light in the darkness because he had placed his hope in the Lord who is ever waiting to forgive and restore His people. 

In Lamentations 3:19-20, Jeremiah says, “The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss.” Much like our experience since the beginning of the pandemic, Jeremiah grieves Israel’s upheaval and destruction. It’s essential to recognize that hope doesn’t come from minimizing or denying our suffering. Toxic positivity is dangerous. Instead, we should confess our struggles and offer them back to God, strengthening our relationship with Him. Doing so demonstrates we trust that though our present circumstances may fill us with despair, we claim the promise of Romans 8:28. Not everything that comes into our lives is good, but God will use it for good if we allow Him.

In Lamentations 3:21-23, we see Jeremiah’s audacious hope amid devastation because “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.

Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” No matter how dark the night, we must remember God’s loyal love, His morning mercies, and as the hymn writer said His great fatherly faithfulness. We are in a covenant relationship with our heavenly Father through salvation. God's mercy shines through the darkness of our trials and failures with the hope of change to come. Perhaps most important, God’s mercy is like that of a father's love and compassion for his child, tender and never ending.

Finally, in Lamentations 3:24, Jeremiah encourages us with the words, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore I will wait for him.” As followers of Christ, we must “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15). That hope is baffling for those without Christ, but for those who aren’t believers, that hope is available through salvation, bringing the promise that no matter how dark your night, in Christ, joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5).

  • If you’re comfortable sharing, discuss when someone passed your pain off through a cliché. How did you move forward? 

  • The word Jeremiah uses for mercy in verse 23 is the same root word from which we derive “womb.” How does that inform your understanding of God’s mercy? 

  • Jeremiah’s words are painfully honest and vulnerable before God. As a believer, do you feel the freedom to be this honest about your burdens or struggles? Why or why not?

  • The Book of Jeremiah is heavy and dark at times, yet it’s also filled with hope and comfort. Seeing it as a parallel to our experience through COVID and the myriad other struggles we’ve experienced these last few years, what do you need to remind yourself of or remember about God right now? What from Jeremiah 3 gives you hope or encouragement? How does chapter three help us move into 2022 with a heavenly mindset?

Make a Move: 

Meditate on who God is and how He loves you. Ask Him to re-center you and empower you with whatever you’re walking through this week.

Prayer Prompt: 

Father, I thank you for the promise that no matter how dark the night, the sun will rise tomorrow, a beacon of the hope I have in You. Thank you that your mercies are new every morning, and for Your faithful love for me. May my life be a testimony to the lost and hurting world around me. Use me to draw people far from Christ into a relationship with you. Amen