When It’s Hard to Believe

Posted On January 16, 2024

Lamentations 3:22-24

There are times in life when it seems that life has fallen apart, when memories of good days gone by have been blurred by the dreadful events of the present.

While we have been wonderfully blessed in this great nation of ours with many, many years of freedom and prosperity, it is so hard to believe that clouds of defeat and despair could cover us with a sense of misery and emptiness. And yet, there are many among us who may be fearing just such a possibility.

Such was the situation which Jeremiah witnessed when he wrote the book of Lamentations.

It was the year 586 BC; the nation of Judah and its capital, Jerusalem, had undergone a vicious siege of 2 ½ years from the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians (present day Iraq). On July 19, the city fell before the onslaught and on August 15 the city and temple were burned to ashes. The walls of the city were reduced to rubble, buildings and homes destroyed, and many of the inhabitants were forcefully deported to far away Babylon (about 550 miles). The city had been left in utter ruin. We may liken it to the scenes left by the powerful tornadoes or massive hurricanes in our day.

For 40 years prior to this, Jeremiah (after hearing from God) had been warning the people of His coming judgment, only to be mocked and rejected. (“No, not us. Can’t happen to us”.) They had repeatedly ignored God’s call to repentance from their ungodly living. Now, the judgement had come! Others in Jeremiah’s shoes may have stood and shouted, “I told you so”. But not this man. This godly prophet, the son of a priest, who had grown up just outside Jerusalem, did no such thing. Instead, from his broken heart and with tears falling on the paper, he wrote this book of Lamentations which has been described as “the funeral of a city”.

It is a beautiful writing composed of five poems. Each poem (chapter) begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet (aleph) and each succeeding verse begins with the succeeding letters through to the last (tav). This is just interesting information, perhaps indicating his utter sadness and mourning (from A to Z we would say) or an effort to bring some small comfort to himself and his readers.

We may picture this dejected prophet seated, not at an office desk but, on a pile of rubble or trash amidst the devastating ruins of this once glorious city. The city which shone with the glory of King David and the wealth of King Solomon. Now, everything is in shambles.

As he strains to see through his tears, the sights, sounds, and smells of death and destruction are everywhere. The few people and animals who do pass by move slowly and awkwardly. Time appears to be locked in a standstill.

The songs of praise and thanksgiving are gone from the temple; the calls of the vendors in the marketplace are silent; the laughter of children scurrying in the streets has been replaced by the mournful cries of the widows and orphans huddled in the shells they once called home.

There is no joy in Jerusalem and Jeremiah sits alone with a broken heart to mourn with all the rest.

Taking his pen, he composes the first two poems in which he describes the destruction of the city (chapter 1) and telling how the anger of God was brought on by the rebellion of His people and their refusal to repent (chapter 2).

Jeremiah’s cry of despair continues in the third poem (chapter 3). In the first 18 verses, he willingly takes the blame upon himself as one member of the sinful community of God’s people, “And I said, “My strength and my hope have perished from the Lord”” (3:18).

I pause here to note that, in the final two poems, he continues to remind them of the terrible consequences of the siege (chapter 4) and to exhort them to remember what and why this has happened and to pray for a return to the Lord (chapter 5).

Now, let’s return to the midst of the third poem. With his countenance being fallen, his tears still flowing, and his hope fleeing ever so far from him, something very amazing happened to Jeremiah – something hard to believe. “My soul still remembers … this I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope” (3:20,21). Something buried deep within his soul began to stir and, as it stirred, his mind was awakened. Like a lily that emerges from the wintry earth in early spring, the remembrance of God’s everlasting mercy (Psalm 100:5) and unfailing compassion (Psalm 86:15) burst forth within him. Rays of hope began to drive away the gloom of the shadows of death from his inner being.

In my mind, I imagine a scene in which this holy prophet arises from the trash pile, stands erect, looks heavenward, stretches his arms upward and shouts, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (3:22,23).

It is though we are seeing Moses standing firm before the Red Sea with Pharoah’s armies pursuing, or Elijah on Mt. Carmel beside his altar waiting for the fire from God, or Joshua staring at the great wall of Jericho expecting it to crumble. All these and more who have believed and trusted, “being fully convinced that what God had promised, He was able to perform” (Romans 4:21). “Great is Your faithfulness.”

It is hard to believe that such misery could have come upon them; it is also hard to believe that such mercy could be given to them. Thanks be to God.

It would take some time, almost 150 years (about 444BC), before the city would be restored, the temple rebuilt, and the wall reconstructed. In the interim, they would face other difficult times and adversities. Even Jeremiah himself was taken away into Egypt soon after this writing and later died there. However, God was ever faithful. The restored city would play a major role in the ministry of Jesus and would become the birthplace of the Church on Pentecost. The rebuilt temple would see the circumcision of Christ as a child and many of His visits thereafter. The reconstructed wall would open for our Lord’s victorious entry on Palm Sunday and open again for His exit to Golgotha to die for the sins of the world.

I cannot help but wonder whether the footsteps of Jesus may have passed over that same spot where Jeremiah sat weeping and writing.

Perhaps this offers some of us some moments to reflect on our own lives and the state of our nation today. The brokenness of our hearts, the heaviness of our souls, and the paralysis of our ability to do what is right and good, have brought many to inward despair as it did with Jeremiah. We look around us and see a nation/world which continues to rebel against God and rejects His loving calls for repentance. Must we also be weeping?

But wait, wait, wait. Look within. Is there not something buried deep within our souls, the remembrance of the goodness and mercies of God within our lives that will begin to stir? And as that remembrance stirs, will not those lilies of His compassion and rays of His hope illumine those dark places within us? Can those “funeral dirges” within us now be replaced by “resurrection praises”? Yes! By the grace of God!

Might we now rise from our trash pile, stand tall, lift our hearts toward heaven and shout, “O Lord, great is Your faithfulness”. “The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I hope in Him!” (3:24).

Yes, brothers and sisters, it is sometimes hard to believe how sorrowful things can be; but it is also hard to believe how those can become joyful things.

Great is Your faithfulness, O God. Thank You!

Fr. Andrew