Sermon: Our Past, Present and Future in God
"I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
How do you view your past? I believe how you view your past will influence how you view your present and future. For the prophet Jeremiah, his past include so much agony and heartache. He saw his homeland overtaken by a great army, literally hundreds of thousands die due to the ongoing war, and countless of others taken into captivity. Jeremiah lived during a period in which his country experience great bitterness and gall (suffering). And yet as he remembers his “affliction and wandering” he is reminded of this:
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.”
Although Jeremiah went through some terrible experiences, he still was able to see God’s great love throughout those experiences. He still, in the middle of his country’s downfall, was able to see how God had blessed Israel and how God was ever faithful.
The notes in a study Bible, The Open Bible, says this: “One of the most remarkable statements of faith in all of Scripture, coming as it does after the awful cry of desolation in Lamentations 3:1–18. Despite the immediate horror and God’s seeming silence (v. 8), the writer remembers all the evidence of God’s compassions and faithfulness in the past; he refuses to give up hope now. Though every earthly possession is gone, God is the best portion (v. 24, inheritance) of all."
How do you see your past? Are you angry or upset over difficult circumstances that you had to experience? Or maybe someone has hurt you greatly and you are still bitter over the experience. If so, the prophet Jeremiah has news for you: God was faithfully loving you through every circumstance and relationship that you experienced. And it only was because of His love that you were not “consumed” by those circumstances and relationships. You survived because of God’s love and today you are given new opportunities because of His faithfulness. God shows us His love in new ways each and every day and today the prophet Jeremiah would have you know this about the ways God demonstrates His love for you: “They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
This coming Sunday we will celebrate our past, present and future as a church. And as we do, I hope we will be reminded that God has been a loving presence in our church throughout her existence. And because of this, we can be excited about what He is doing now, and what He will do in our future. Hope to see you Sunday and plan on joining us for lunch at our pot-luck dinner immediately after the worship service as we celebrate the faithfulness of our great God.
