SERIES: Topical
MESSAGE: Great Is Thy Faithfulness
SPEAKER: Skip Heitzig
SCRIPTURE: Lamentations 3:22-31

MESSAGE SUMMARY
The prophet Jeremiah looked on as the city of Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. But even as he mourned over the destruction of his city, he realized the living God was at work. In the same way, though our world is filled with a great amount of uncertainty, we can still find certainty in the Lord and confidently tell Him, "Great is Your faithfulness."

STUDY GUIDE

As Christmas ends, it seems that the hope of December fades into the harsh realities of January, leaving many of us asking, "Where is all of the peace on earth and goodwill toward men?" In order to bring us hope at this time of the year, Pastor Skip walked us through the rich text of Lamentations 3:22-31 on God's faithfulness to His people.

At the birth of Jesus, the angel declared, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" (Luke 2:14). The full meaning and intention of this declaration is often misunderstood due to a poor translation of the text. It should read, "Peace to men on whom His favor rests." It is a promise made not to the entire world, but to those who are His, who are under His favor.

In the same way, God made promises to His people in the book of Lamentations. The context of this passage takes us to the year 586 BC. This whole year was like Israel's September 11: The Babylonians had besieged the city of Jerusalem for eighteen months. Many Jews were massacred, and the Babylonians captured thousands more. The city and temple were burned. Jeremiah, like a war correspondent, recorded that people died in record numbers, describing the horrors of corpses rotting in the streets and desperate parents forced to eat their own children. In Lamentations, Jeremiah wrote five funeral dirges—laments, mournful songs—in response to these atrocities. But in the third chapter, we find an island of hope in an ocean of despair. From Jeremiah's hopeful words, Pastor Skip gifted us with three certainties to hang our hats on in an uncertain world.

First, there is mercy in the midst of mayhem. For most of us, this coming year will include some level of confusion, disruption, pain, and suffering. Yet, "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not" (v. 22). Someone once said that life is simply a process of getting used to all the things you don't expect. Job put it this way: "Man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward" (Job 5:7, NIV). Psalm 23 says there is a valley of the shadow of death that we will have to walk through. There will be mayhem, but there will be mercy. Better yet, mercy here is the Hebrew word checed, best translated as covenant love, loyal love, or loving-kindness. C.H. Mackintosh wrote that "10,000 mercies are forgotten in one stifling moment." Therefore, when hardship comes, we need to respond by remembering His triumphant mercies, His ongoing loving-kindnesses. What are some ways that you have focused, or should focus, on the greatness of your God rather than on the greatness of your grief or trial?

Second, God's resources will match your requirements. Jeremiah declared that God's mercies "are new every morning" (v. 23), and they are to be ours every day. Whatever each day throws at us, it will be met with His mercies. However, like the manna given to the children of Israel in the desert, mercy needs to be laid hold of daily. We should give our mornings to God and get new mercies from Him every day. Consider that Jeremiah's declaration of God's faithfulness wasn't based upon what Jeremiah was seeing at that time—horrific suffering—but what he knew about God—He is faithful. He had to stay focused on what he knew about God to get him through those troubled times. The same is true for us. Thomas Chisholm wrote the classic hymn "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" after a season in which he noted, "I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God." Someone once counted 7,487 promises God made to man in the Bible. These promises are our resources. We must trust in His mercies and faithfulness, especially in the midst of despair. Skip suggested that we keep a record of promises that God has kept or fulfilled for us personally, so that when trials come, we have a record of His faithfulness to rely on. How do you remember what He has done for you?

Third, God's delays do not always mean God's denials. Do you feel like you never get what you ask for in prayer? In verses 21-31, there are two words that appear five times: hope and wait. Consider that prior to writing Lamentations, Jeremiah had preached for forty years and not one person is recorded as having repented. Jeremiah, too, had to hope and wait. His forty years of prophesying finally came true with the Babylonian invasion. In those same prophecies, God also promised that after seventy years of captivity, He would bring His people back home—and He did. The idea of waiting means that we expect God to answer and give Him space to work in His way and His time. Practically, how can we encourage each other in tough times that it won't always be this way? Think of times when you have seen God's faithfulness and mercy.

Adapted from Pastor Skip’s teaching

The BIG Idea
Your outlook is determined by your uplook.

DETAILED NOTES

  1. Introduction
    1. Lamentations represents one of the darkest periods in ancient biblical history
      1. Jeremiah saw the death of his nation
      2. At the same time, there was a living God who was greatly at work
    2. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness" —Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
    3. This passage is one of the most significant passages in all Scripture on the faithfulness of God to His people
    4. It seems that December's hope gets eclipsed by January's harsh reality
    5. Luke 2:13-14
      1. What's wrong with this picture?
      2. A more modern translation yields, "On earth, peace to men on whom God's favor rests"
      3. That's a promise to you in the midst of all the bad stuff
    6. 586 BC: Israel's September 11
      1. Babylonians took over
      2. Thousands of people died in the streets of Jerusalem
      3. The temple was burned
      4. Lamentations 2:20; 4:10
      5. Jeremiah, like a war correspondent, recorded what he saw in Lamentations
        1. A lament is a strong cry, like a funeral dirge
        2. He wrote five of them
      6. Thousands of people were carted off to Babylon, including Daniel
    7. These verses are an island of hope in an ocean of despair
    8. We live in an uncertain world, but we do have a few certainties
  2. There Is Mercy in the Midst of Mayhem
    1. These verses are like a diamond in a handful of coal
    2. Jeremiah could see through the smoke of judgment, and he focused on God's mercy
      1. He was seeing death and destruction
      2. But he said, "It is not the end"
    3. Every person will face mayhem
      1. Life is a process of getting used to all the things you never planned
      2. Job 5:7
      3. Psalm 23:4; you won't be airlifted from mountain peak to mountain peak
      4. Some people think that because they're Christians, God owes them a life free of pain and suffering
    4. There will be mayhem in the next year, but there will be mercy in the midst of it
    5. Mercies (v. 22) is a word used about 250 times in the Old Testament
      1. Sometimes translated loving-kindness
      2. Hebrew checed, which means loyal love or covenant love
      3. God made a covenant with you and will act in love and mercy toward you because of that covenant
    6. Rather than focusing on the great grief you're experiencing, focus on the great God and His great love, mercy, and compassion toward you
      1. "Ten thousand mercies are forgotten in the presence of a single trifling privation" —C.H. Mackintosh
      2. Start drowning out the trifling moments with God's triumphant mercy
  3. God's Resources Will Match Our Requirements
    1. "Great is Your faithfulness" (v. 23): this is like someone standing at ground zero on September 11, 2001, and saying this
    2. Whatever the day throws at you, God will match it
    3. Every day this next year, there will be a fresh supply of God's covenant love
    4. But it's like manna
      1. You have to gather it every morning
      2. Exodus 16
      3. This next year, give your mornings to God: start in His Word and in prayer
      4. Receive during this time what you will need for the day
    5. "Great is Your faithfulness" was a declaration not based on what Jeremiah saw, heard, or smelled; it was based on what he knew about God
    6. 2 Timothy 2:13; He's faithful, but we don't always notice it
    7. "I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God" —Thomas Chisholm
    8. "Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; as Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be. 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!" —Thomas Chisholm, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness"
    9. There are 7,487 promises in the Bible that God made to man; that will get you through your tomorrows
    10. It's time we start focusing on and noticing all the times God keeps a promise
  4. Delays Don't Mean Denials
    1. In verses 21-31, two words appear five times: hope and wait
    2. These are the words of a man anticipating an answer from God at some point in the future
    3. Jeremiah predicted what he saw and wrote about in Lamentations
      1. He spent forty years warning the people, and not a single person listened to him
      2. He also predicted that Jerusalem would be restored after seventy years of captivity in Babylon
    4. Jeremiah expected God to answer and gave room for God to answer in His way and timing
    5. We should start recognizing and looking for God's mercy in the midst of mayhem, grabbing hold of His resources in the midst of our requirements, and waiting and hoping in the Lord when He says, "Not now"
      1. Not now doesn't mean no
      2. We need to learn to let go when we trust the Lord
  5. Closing
    1. This year, let go
    2. The best place to look is up, because your outlook is determined by your uplook
    3. Say to the Lord, "Great is Your faithfulness"

Figures referenced: Charles Dickens, C.H. Mackintosh, Thomas Chisholm

Hebrew words: checed

Cross references: Exodus 16; Job 5:7; Psalm 23:4; Lamentations 2:20; 3:21-31; 4:10; Luke 2:13-14; 2 Timothy 2:13


Topic: God's Faithfulness

Keywords: faithful, faithfulness, lament, mercy, suffering, hardships, pain, covenant love, provision, promise, hope, waiting


Great Is Thy Faithfulness - Lamentations 3:22-31 | SkipHeitzig.com/3118
Page |