August 5, 2016 PROBING OUR WAYS
Lamentations 3:32-33,38: “For if He causes grief, then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness. For He does not afflict willingly, or grieve the sons of men. Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth?”
Jeremiah, the writer of Lamentations, paints a picture of the great suffering that had come to the people of God as a result of them turning from the Lord. Jeremiah is speaking for the children of God and you hear the cry of his heart for the deliverance of the nation from the suffering being experienced on every hand. What we read in chapter three is in conflict with the belief that many have, that God is never the author of grief or affliction and suffering. As we come to grip with the message of Lamentations, we find that our only response is to bow our knee to the fact that God is sovereign and that we are at the mercy of God. Because God is sovereign, He could put a stop to all evil if He chose to do so, and He could end all affliction and grief if He decided to do that. Lamentations makes it clear that God at times causes, or allows grief, and it also makes it clear that God is full of compassion. We may have a difficult time reconciling this seemingly contradictory view of God, but when we understand the message God is speaking through Jeremiah, we will be blessed and we will be humbled as we come to a better understanding of just how great His compassion is toward His people. When sin entered the heart of man through Adam and Eve, the fellowship and the relationship that they enjoyed with God was lost. The overriding plan of God and the desire of God is that the relationship that Adam and Eve enjoyed with God before they sinned, would be restored to all of God’s people. God’s remedy for the sin issue was the giving of His Son to be the sacrifice for the sins of man. It is God’s heart that man would seek to know Him, and would to come to Him because of His great love and compassion; He does not want robots, but wants a people who desire Him. The great mystery and plan of God is that He allows difficult times to come, He allows grief and affliction, with the purpose of causing man to cry out for Him, to turn to Him SO THAT He might show His compassion! God longs to show that His compassion never fails, and He will use afflictions and grief as an opportunity to do just that. But, let us know that it is not His desire for us to turn from Him so that He can show His compassion; we do not have to turn form Him-we can know His compassion and His love by walking with Him, by hearing and following His voice. The word for us in Lamentations is that God is always drawing us to Himself and He will do whatever it takes to cause us to come to Him so that we might experience His abundant grace and lovingkindness.
Lamentations 3:22,40: “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. Let us examine and probe our ways, and let us return to the Lord.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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