Lamentations 3:20 (ESV)
20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. 21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” 25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
… 31 For the Lord will not cast off forever, 32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 33 for he does not willingly [literally “from the heart”] afflict or grieve the children of men.
… 37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?
“Where is the goodness of God when we lose a loved one? How can a good God _____________ (you fill in the blank)? One of Jaime’s friends last year suffered the heart-wrenching pain of losing her unborn baby – how is God’s goodness and faithfulness demonstrated in death of a dear little one?”
That’s how I began a sermon I preached on that passage at our church 4/13/2007 and it was edited for our church radio program in early 8/2011. In God’s providence I believe it is playing this Sunday morning at 6:30 and Tuesday 8/30 at 4:00 p.m. on KFIA 710 a.m., the day before I am preparing to bury my son, a timely reminder of God’s timeless truths and timing. The 2nd half will air the week I am preparing to come home (you can also listen to it online at below links). God is still faithful and God is still good, which I am preaching to myself.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sid=82511024441
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sid=8251102732
I’m not in my church this Sunday as I travel to Congo but thought it fitting to pass along some excerpts from the above sermon, for such a time as this, which hopefully will minister to some in this different type of pulpit and platform God has me in today:
“… how is God’s goodness and faithfulness demonstrated in death of a dear little one? I’ll come back to that story later, but I want you to know that the how questions are part of the book of Lamentations. In fact, the Hebrew name of this book is their word for “How” (ekah) an exclamation of dismay …
“After our great national trauma of Sept. 11, 2001 when the towers fell, so many died and the goodness of the future was called into question, many Christian communities in their hurt, harrow, and despair turned for solace and guidance to an ancient and rather obscure book of the Bible Lamentations. In this book we journey into the dark, dusty, and despairing corners of human hearts, into those times in our collective experience that we would rather forget or avoid. Yet as a people of faith we believe that our God gives us the resources to help us refrain from avoiding or denying the pain and the tragedy. We can grieve, we can cry out. Sometimes we may even clench our fists and cry out why under the conviction that our God cares for us and loves us enough to speak to us even in tragedy … on the cross Jesus gave a powerful answer to the questions proposed by this book of the Bible. In the midst of the most desperate lamentation, mourning the worst tragedy, our God is there, He is with us.”
… We as human beings may have time of great discouragement, or even depression – it is then that we must remember and trust and cling to God’s attributes and character. Our hope is not based on our circumstances or what we can see or our feelings, it is based on what we recall and know about God. We dwell on His attributes and what we know to be true about him, and that is what the author does in the following verses.
… Thomas Watson published All Things for Good in 1663, one year after he and about 2,000 other pastors were ejected from their churches by the Church of England and suffered great hardship and suffering. He speaks from personal experience, but more importantly from a deep understanding and love of God and Scripture, of how this truth was not only theoretical but his heart confidence was in the good God who works all things, including sinful actions and suffering, for His glory and our ultimate good
“No vessel can be made of gold without fire; so it is impossible that we should be made vessels of honour, unless we are melted and refined in the furnace of affliction … As the painter intermixes bright colours with dark shadows, so the wise God mixes mercy with judgment” (p. 26)
“Luther said that he could never rightly understand some of the Psalms, till he was in affliction … A sick-bed often teaches more than a sermon. We can best see the [ugliness of our] sin in the glass of affliction. Affliction teaches us to know ourselves. In prosperity we are for the most part strangers to ourselves. God makes us know affliction, that we may better know ourselves” (p. 27)
“Afflictions work for good, as they are the means of loosening our hearts from the world. When you dig away the earth from the root of a tree, it is to loosen the tree from the earth; so God digs away our earthly comforts to loosen our hearts from the earth.” (p. 29)
“Do not mistake me; I do not say that of their own nature the worst things are good, for they are a fruit of the curse, but though they are naturally evil, yet the wise overruling hand of God dispose[s] and sanctif[ies] them … It is one heart-quieting consideration in all the afflictions that befall us, that God has a special hand in them: ‘The Almighty hath afflicted me’ (Ruth 1.21) … [Job said] The Lord hath taken away.’ Whoever brings an affliction to us, it is God that sends it.” (p. 25)
The great saints of the past believed the reformed doctrine of God’s predestining all things, and that everything ultimately was from him. God’s sovereignty was not an abstract subject for debate in theological chat rooms, it was means for survival
Spurgeon: "It would be a very sharp and trying experience to me to think that I have an affliction which God never sent me, that the bitter cup was never filled by his hand, that my trials were never measured out by him, nor sent to me by his arrangement of their weight and quantity” (see note 51 on Piper’s online biography)
George Muller when his wife died preached her funeral sermon from Psalm 119:68: "Thou art good and doest good."
Sarah Edwards, when she heard that her husband Jonathan had died of a smallpox vaccination at the age of 54, she wrote to her daughter: "What shall I say? A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. O that we may kiss the rod and lay our hands on our mouths! The Lord has done it. He has made me adore His goodness, that we had him so long. But my God lives; and He has my heart. O what a legacy my husband, and your father, has left us. We are all given to God; and there I am and love to be."
Going back to a dear friend of my wife’s who I mentioned in the beginning of the sermon lost her child. How does the truth of this message work itself out in real life in our day and age?
Here is one example (and notice not only a high view of God’s sovereignty, but notice the affirmations of God’s goodness through the trial):
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 16:47:51 -0700 (PDT)
From:
Subject: "The blow of His hand"
Dear Friends,
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. There is nothing outside His care and I am thankful for His goodness to me and my family. Two days ago, I started to spot and was able to see the doctor today to check if [our] Baby was still alive. It was obvious to me as the ultrasound magnified my little bundle of joy that my baby was with the Lord. The Lord took His child home ten days ago and my body is now slowly rejecting the baby. It was a sad moment but I thank the Lord for His goodness and His love that allowed this to happen from start to finish. My baby's work is done. The world may say "It was not meant to be" but I say yes it was. For the Lord, used this little one to teach me a life lesson in trusting Him. I am thankful that I can say that what Jesus did for me on the cross, that my Heavenly Father is my shepherd, my provider, my protector, my comforter, and my all in all.
The Lord has shown His goodness these last two weeks. Not knowing I had lost the baby, He alllowed for my heart to be prepared to be comforted by a message written by a woman who almost lost her baby. She writes that no matter what the end result was in the life of her child, that she was to rest in His hand and trust in Him. My thoughts dwelled on God's sovereignty character and that all He allows works together for my good and His glory. In His goodness, He has allowed for me to slowly lose the baby with no major bleeding or cramping but I am particular in awe that He did not allow for me to lose the baby any other week but this week of which [my husband] has off from his teaching job. What amazes me the most about our Lord is care, love and perfect timing. I started to spot on Monday, of which [my husband] had off from both jobs … I been able to manage with the boys on Tuesday and today with the Lord grace and [my husband’s] help during the day, but tomorrow, he will be off again from both jobs which will be helpful because I am schedule for a DNC. All, that to say, God is so gracious and good to care for me and my family during this sad loss in our lives. Praise the Lord.
Thank you for praying for [our] Baby … God has answered our prayers in more ways than you know.
In Spurgeon’s book, Beside Still Waters, he writes "Some have learned to trust the smile of His face, but they must also learn to trust the blow of His hand." As we all well know, both are for our good and His glory. This quote was written in the woman’s article whose message encouraged me and was used to prepare me for this day.
To God be the Glory,
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