Sermon Snippets’ is an occasional series, taking bitesize chunks from our Sunday sermons. We’ve pulled one from the archives this week! The following excerpt is adapted from a sermon on Lamentations 3:1-31, preached by Nathan Burley in January 2012. You can listen to the whole sermon here.
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“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.”
As you read through the weeping of Lamentations, when you finally get to these verses, it’s like somebody has opened up the curtains and the sun has started pouring in.
There are beautiful roses flourishing and growing between the cracks in the rubble.
The song Great Is Thy Faithfulness takes its chorus straight from these verses. But we almost need to sing funeral dirges non-stop for 2 hours and then, out of nowhere, start singing it! Only then will we feel as refreshed as we’re meant to feel by it.
I think Lamentations has a bad reputation. As if you need to keep the Samaritans hotline number handy if you ever find yourself doing your Quiet Times in Lamentations. Things might get a bit dark…
But the structure of the book shows that we’re meant to focus on these few verses in this chapter, these verses of hope.
The firm foundation during the earthquake is the endless mercy of God.
God’s love never ceases. It never takes a holiday.
God’s heart is always pumping out love, overflowing with it, never ceasing with it from one year to the next.
And this isn’t a love you need to earn. It’s mercy. Mercy which never runs out.
Every morning we wake up and there is fresh mercy and grace waiting and ready for us.
Have you seen those mugs that say, “Some mornings I wake up grumpy. Other mornings I let him lie-in.”? We never have that with God. “I wonder what kind of mood He’ll be in today.”
This passage tells you what kind of mood He’ll be in. He’ll be endlessly merciful.
When you get up early cos the baby’s crying or you’re sat in traffic on the way to work, God got up before you did and is already being merciful.
He has been, He is, and He always will be completely & utterly faithful.
God’s unchanging character is always to have mercy on those who turn back to Him. So turn to Him!