Lamentations 3:37-42 The Message
God Speaks Both Good Things and Hard Things into Being
37-39 Who do you think “spoke and it happened”?
It’s the Master who gives such orders.
Doesn’t the High God speak everything,
good things and hard things alike, into being?
And why would anyone gifted with life
complain when punished for sin?
40-42 Let’s take a good look at the way we’re living
and reorder our lives under God.
Let’s lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time,
praying to God in heaven:
“We’ve been contrary and willful,
and you haven’t forgiven.
Word of God for the Children of God
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
How often do we actually take the time to humbly examine our ways?
Seriously. This is a serious question for these serious days we are navigating!
Think about it.
How often do we sit down and put our lives under God’s microscope?
We can glance over our everyday lives and not think much about them.
Yet, if we consider each passing thought, each insensitive or thoughtless word that comes spewing out of our mouth, every careless action that we do out of habit, how would they hold up against the Word?
Don’t we think, don’t we .01% believe it might be a good idea to actually make it a practice to regularly scrutinize our lives?
Yes, I said “”scrutinize”.
To judge ourselves.
Not in the way of condemning ourselves, but rather in the way of cleaning out our lives.
Even Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:29-32.
1 Corinthians 11:29-32 The Message
29-32 If you give no thought (or worse, don’t care) about the broken body of the Master when you eat and drink, you’re running the risk of serious consequences. That’s why so many of you even now are listless and sick, and others have gone to an early grave. If we get this straight now, we won’t have to be straightened out later on. Better to be confronted by the Master now than to face a fiery confrontation later.
How do you know if someone has truly repented?
Does it involve more than simply feeling sorry?
One of the most common misconceptions about biblical repentance is that it is primarily an emotion.
We tend to measure the legitimacy of repentance by how badly the person feels about themselves. Lamentations offers a different view.
The mark of genuine repentance is more a matter of understanding than emotion.
Verse 40 describes the nature of true repentance: “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.”
Many people who are not yet Christians may have a hard time imagining themselves accepting Christ.
Maybe they have had some bad experiences with Christians in the past and can’t imagine themselves being one of “them.”
Perhaps they carry hurts or shame and they can’t imagine letting go of what happened a long time ago.
In situations like that, it can be helpful to provide someone with chances to “borrow” your faith for a while to try it on.
For instance, offering to pray for someone can be a great way to let people embrace your faith without strings attached.
You could say something like,
“When I’m feeling stressed, I find that prayer (just talking to God) really helps. Would you like me to pray for you?”
Most people are fairly open to being prayed for by someone else, even if they haven’t prayed much or aren’t sure what they believe about God or prayer.
Each situation of prayer and conversation about God registers in a person’s mind as a little faith experience.
Every time someone hears a good rumor of things God has done, or every time God’s Word somehow influences their own life story, they’ll begin to imagine what God might do in their whole life. And that’s a step in the right direction.
Repentance begins when we carefully consider our attitudes and actions, agree with God’s assessment, and then maybe turn ourselves around to face the Lord.
What is more, the engine that drives true repentance is hope.
The nature of this hope is expressed in verses 31–32.
It is the conviction that “no one is cast off by the Lord forever” if they come to Him in true repentance.
This assurance springs from God’s own compassion, an “unfailing love” that cannot be exhausted.
God’s unfailing love provides the theological framework for understanding the afflictions and sorrows that will continue to be the subject of this devotional.
Although there is a divine hand behind them (vv. 37–39),
God takes no pleasure in the injustices inflicted by the agents who enact His discipline or from the suffering experienced by His people (vv. 33–36).
Repentance is not stoic resignation that dispassionately accepts suffering.
Nor is it necessarily a kind of spiritual depression that fills us with self- loathing. Repentance is a biblically informed view of ourselves that has been enlightened by God’s goodness and holiness. We may be grieved by what we learn, but the ultimate goal is to compel us to lift our gaze to God’s mercy.
Go Deeper …
Have you confused repentance with regret?
Have you spent so much time dwelling on your regret you have forgotten grace?
Psalm 32:1-2 New King James Version
The Joy of Forgiveness
A Psalm of David. A [a]Contemplation.
32 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not [b]impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
In the name of God, the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit ….
Praying …
Psalm 32 New King James Version
The Joy of Forgiveness
A Psalm of David. A [a]Contemplation.
32 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not [b]impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent, my bones grew old
Through my groaning all the day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah
5 I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
6 For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You
In a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters
They shall not come near him.
7 You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from trouble;
You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye.
9 Do not be like the horse or like the mule,
Which have no understanding,
Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle,
Else they will not come near you.
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous;
And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 