Have you ever cried so much you couldn’t cry any longer? Have you ever been so sad that you couldn’t move your thoughts from the bad things going on in your life? Crushed, despair, and heart-broken are words that you use to describe your situation? Jeremiah did. He was a spokesman for God, a prophet, and an author of some books in the Bible.
This is not about clinical depression and the need for medical attention, but deep sadness, despair, and hopelessness. Sometimes medicine and medical attention is needed. This however is how we connect with God in our hard times.
As he was reviewing his feelings he remembers One Ray of Hope and it changes everything for him!
I want you to see this One Ray of Hope and it may encourage you like it did Jeremiah and begin to bring you out of your dark place.
Yes, God understands your pain and suffering. He knows your depression and deep sadness, and He wants to help. He moved on Jeremiah to write the little book of Lamentations, a lament, a story of overcoming sadness.
Jeremiah was a spokesman for God, a prophet, who lived 586 years before Christ. Why such a specific number? That was the time his home, Jerusalem, was destroyed by Babylon (historical facts), and it left him devastated, homeless, broken, looking for foot, and emotionally crushed and depressed beyond belief. Many of his friends had been killed and others were carried off into captivity. And his home was razed to the ground. And he blamed it all on God!
Listen to what he said…
“I am the one who has seen the afflictions that come from the rod of the Lord’s anger. He has led me into darkness, shutting out all light. He has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. He has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has broken my bones. He has besieged and surrounded me with anguish and distress. He has buried me in a dark place, like those long dead. He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains. And though I cry and shout, he has shut out my prayers. He has blocked my way with a high stone wall; he has made my road crooked. He has hidden like a bear or a lion, waiting to attack me. He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces, leaving me helpless and devastated. He has drawn his bow and made me the target for his arrows. He shot his arrows deep into my heart. My own people laugh at me. All day long they sing their mocking songs. He has filled me with bitterness and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink. He has made me chew on gravel. He has rolled me in the dust. Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is. I cry out, “My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!” The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:” (Lamentations 3:1–21, NLT)
His words describe weeping and sadness because his entire life and way of life was gone.
No peace. No rest. Feeling hopeless. Heart broken. Broken financially and his spirits are crushed. He is in despair. Homeless, wandering, dazed by life’s circumstances and unable to think of anything else but his pain. He thoughts were a broken record, that kept skipping back to the bad part. The DJ kept rewinding the song to the bad part of the story. As you read that passage, there may be other words that describe your pain and distress. Maybe you fee targeted, singled out, and even laughed at by others. God knows what you are going through!
He was stuck in his grief, but at the end of telling how bad it was, he is struck with One Ray of Hope!
I was in my seat on the airplane and it was raining and dark outside. A dreadful day but occasionally you would see a single ray of sunshine beaming through the dark clouds, as if the Sun was saying, I am here. Then we took off and jetting through the sky, through the darkness, and we burst above the clouds to see the Sun and blue skies in all of its glory! We were free from the dark, depressing, dreadful day. I had hope to make it there because of one ray of hope!
He had One Ray of Hope in all of the dark dreadful things that had happened to him.
Look at his One Ray of Hope!
Lamentations 3:20–24 (NLT) 20I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. 21Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: 22The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. 23Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. 24I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”
He “dared to hope” in One Ray of Hope about God!!! God is good!
I was taught a prayer as a child that is still the most powerful thing I know about God:
“God is great, God is good, let us thank Him!”
When the circumstances of life are all seemingly against you and you cannot see God’s hand with you because of the painful darkness, trust in the character of God. God is good and He is faithful. This was Jeremiah’s One Ray of Hope that shattered his dark days with hope for a new future!
Look at these Three Rays of Hope in verses 20-24 say:
Ray of Hope #1. God loves you! He is loving toward you.
Lamentations 3:22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.
God is Faithful in His Love toward you. He is not fickle. His love is unconditional. We all need unconditional love and God is the Only One who can give us the pure unconditional love we all need. He is not fault finding but forgiving.
God’s love toward you never ends! You cannot make Him stop loving you. When your bad situation began, His love for you didn’t stop! But you may be saying, you don’t know what I’ve done. But God does and do you know what, verse 22 says “His mercies never cease!” By His great mercy in Christ we have forgiveness!
“He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.” (Ephesians 1:7, NLT)
Yes, we are fallen, broken, and far from perfect! We are not fully the people or the person god wants us to be. His work in our lives is a work in progress! But because He is our loving Heavenly Father, His picks us up when we stumble and He mercifully does not give us what we deserve, but in mercy He blesses us. You cannot exhaust the mercies of God!
You cannot exhaust His forgiveness. Your forgiveness is not base on your performance, but based on Christ’s perfect sacrifice for you on the cross.
Ray of Hope #2. God’s Faithfulness is Great! v23
23Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
God doesn’t give up on you! He will never give up on you! He keeps being faithful and loving toward to you no matter how much you screw up. No matter how unfaithful you have been to Him, He is faithful to you. You cannot mess up so bad that He will kick you out!
Ray of Hope #3. God’s mercies are new every morning! v23
23Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I love the way some other translations says it: “His mercies are new every morning.” Songs are written about these verses! God looks for ways to be merciful to you each day. He will hunt you down to bless you and encourage you. Whatever God has promised to do for you and through you, He will make it happen! You cannot mess up so bad that He cannot fulfill what He began in and through you.
God wants to bring you through your sadness to a place where you are…
- full of His joy! He sings over His children with songs of joy!
- restored fully and more! God is in the restoration businesses!
- out of your sad dark situation.
- looking forward to the future.
Here are some Spiritual Jet Engine Darkness busters!
These Spiritual Exercises and principles will get you into a place where you can grab hold of those Rays of Hope and burst through your dark clouds to get to a place of hope and joy once again. These are principles we learn from Jeremiah in his dark day and encounter with God. These are Jet Engine darkness busters!
Darkness buster #1. Remember what God has done in your life!
You may or may not have a close relationship with God. This guy did and bad things still fell his way. He began to dig down and remember things about God he had been taught and experienced. You may have never been taught anything about God at all, and if that is the case, then let this be your first understanding about Him. God is good!
Remembering is powerful. He began to remember all of the good things God had done. It began to awaken the possibilities for the future because of the kinds of things God had done in the past. This brought Jeremiah hope! And it will bring you hope too!
Remembering the good about God will cause you to dare to hope in the darkest times of your life! Remembering who God is and what He has done will let the light of hope break into your darkness.
Darkness buster#2. Spend some time Reflecting upon what the Bible says about God and His faithfulness.
God doesn’t change. He has been faithful in the past and He is faithful in the present. He is the same God in the Bible times and the same God today. You can count on Him. Here is how you do this. Just like we looked at this passage and listed what happened to Jeremiah and then listed what the Bible said about God, do the same thing with other passages. Biblical meditation is not emptying your mind of things, but filling your mind with Scripture until it begins pushing out the bad stuff and overflowing with the Good God stuff from it’s pages!
Darkness buster #3. Expect God’s help! His mercies are new at every turn!
Look expectantly in faith knowing that what He has for you is right around the corner! It may happen this evening or tomorrow morning! God honors expectant faith! He rewards it!
Hebrews 11:6 (NLT) “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”
Darkness buster #4. Get your eyes off of your problems and get them focused on our great God, the Lord Jesus!
24I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” I love the way the ESV translation says it, “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
If you could have anything that you believe would fix your problem, what would it be? $1M, $100K, $10K, good health, the right doctor, the right medicine, a better place to live, the right partner, or even to go back in time and fix some mistakes. Jeremiah sees what is a common theme throughout the entire Bible, that His problem was so big only God could fix it. Once he got his eyes off his problems, and on the greatness of God, he knew all he needed was the Lord.
All you need, your portion, your inheritance, the thing you need to fix your problem is not a thing but the Creator Himself, the Lord Jesus. If you have Him and His presence with you, it doesn’t matter what happens to you or what you go through. He is all you need!
Jeremiah is saying, “What do I need to fix this?” and he answers Himself saying, “I need the Lord Himself! God you are all I need!” Our God is great! Much greater than any problem you will ever face!
Darkness buster #5 Speak words of faith to yourself!
24I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”
Stop the negative, defeated, despairing speech! Stop saying, “I will never make it through this,” “I should just give up,” “no one cares,” “I cannot make it,” and “nothing will ever change.” Stop! Please stop! Stop talking to your problems! “My God is bigger than you problem!” “My God is able to deliver me through this!” “My God is looking out for me and helping me moment by moment! He is able to deliver me and I am trusting Him to help me through it.”
Jeremiah said…. “I say to myself” …. He was speaking words of faith and encouragement to himself. God has done it before and will do it again! Say this, “I am expecting my Lord Jesus to deliver me through this completely! I will trust Him day by day!”
Darkness buster #6: You need friends to walk with you through this who are believing God’s best for you!
This is who Jeremiah was writing this too. He understood their pain – he had faced it himself. They walked through this together and God led them through it!
Dear friends, remember God is good! God is great! Let us be thankful for what we have and the things He does for us. This is one way we can be faithful to Him in return for His faithfulness toward us.
by Bill Stevens
September 8, 2018
Bill and Stephanie Stevens are starting a church in Loveland, Colorado. This month there will be two interest meetings. Email us for more information. Bill@TheWellLoveland.com