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Search for sermons by: Commentaries | Scripture search | Topics
Lamentations 3:25–40
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)
Siamese twins Margaret and Mary Gibb were not only accustomed to their affliction. They came to prefer it. As adults they refused even to discuss the possibility of separation. To them, such a move would have seemed no less than amputation of a major limb. In recent weeks their c … More
God’s people needed to develop the proper attitude toward their afflictions. Jeremiah gave them seven principles to go by:
Afflictions serve a divine purpose (vv. 31-32). But God is too compassionate to allow them to endure forever. Judah’s afflictions were not cruel acts of a God who delighted in inflicting pain on helpless people. Instead the afflictions came from a compassionate and loving God who was being faithful to His covenant.
He did not enjoy making others suffer but allowed the afflictions as a temporary means to force Judah back to Himself. Knowing that transgressions merit chastening and that God is fair in all His dealings, why would the afflicted soul rebel against the Lord (v. 39)? Jeremiah ends this section by exhorting the people to examine their ways and return to the Lord.
Application
I disciplined my children to bring right behavior. God disciplines me to bring right living. I must not complain about discipline but learn from it, trusting God and being willing to change. I must allow His correction to bring about the kind of behavior in my life that will please Him.
Lamentations 3:25-40 (English Standard Version)
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; let him put his mouth in the dust-- there may yet be hope; let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults. For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men. To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth, to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High, to subvert a man in his lawsuit, the Lord does not approve. Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!
View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway) »
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