God Is Faithful

Introduction

This is a special day. To see faces of those who have shared in the life of this congregation over the decades brings a flood of emotions. We are reminded of those who are not here because they are in the arms of Jesus. We share many good memories and celebrate the fact that we stand on the shoulders of generations that have come before us. My task today is to speak briefly about the faithfulness of God.

There is a part of me that wants to focus completely on the positive. Perhaps there is an expectation that I will use this time to share memories or thoughts about how God has been faithful. And while that may be helpful and useful, I do not want us to forget what today is really about. We have come today to honor God. While there is much to celebrate, this is not a day about Park Avenue. It is a day to express our deepest thanks to God because He is worthy of such. We sing songs today because of who God is. We will be impressed by the volume of lifted voices and by the great crowd. We will be impressed in human terms, but let us be impressed by the God who has graciously and compassionately brought us into his kingdom. Let us be impressed that today we get to stand with our brothers and sisters from previous times and once again lift up the name of God who is the only One who is worthy of praise today.

Despair and God

We like it when things are going well. We prefer things going well to when things are not. It is hard to imagine a person seeking to suffer if given the choice but then I look at the lives of some of the great people of faith and their experience of suffering was chosen in order to bring God’s message to people. Abraham left his homeland and his comfort with a promise but no clear direction where it would all lead. Ruth left her people to be near her mother-in-law without a guarantee about the future. Paul became a follower of Jesus and a missionary with the promise that he would suffer much for his efforts. Mary gave birth to a child by the power of the Holy Spirit and lived with the stigma of being a loose woman.

Jeremiah was called to be a prophet and like so many did not want the job. He knew that a prophet’s job would not be pleasant. He had no idea how unpleasant his life would become. Shunned. Beaten. Imprisoned. Ridiculed. Isolated. Jeremiah wanted to quit but he didn’t. So he writes Lamentations. And in chapter 3 he blames God for all that has happened to him. From his vantage point, God is the one who called him to share the message and thus all that happened to him had to come from God’s unwillingness to intervene. God had allowed him to suffer. He cries out in 3:17 “My peace is gone.” You know what that is like don’t you when peace, quiet, contentment, and tranquility are gone? Especially when the internal peace is gone we suffer.

Jeremiah pleads for God and he feels like God isn’t near. As he describes even his prayers are blocked (3:8). But then Jeremiah turns. All the bitterness; all the despair; all the isolation, Jeremiah finds hope. Because of God’s great faithfulness, his mercy, his unfailing love, we have hope. Because God is steady, because God is stable, because God doesn’t change, we are renewed. Jeremiah discovered that the uncertainty of his surroundings and his inner turmoil did not make sense but when he stopped thinking of God as the enemy and saw the reality that He was the only one who did not change and brought stability to his life then he found hope. The dawning of each new day was a sign that God was still there. Jeremiah could be disappointed with God but with the new day, he knew that God was the only constant and consistent part of his life.

In your despair, God is still there. In your despair, God is steady. In your despair, God is stable. In your despair, God does not change. This is our hope. Does your despair bring hope? Does your condemnation of God bring hope? While these are normal reactions to what we cannot understand, Jeremiah reminds us that the one thing that we can hold on to is the faithfulness of God. He does not leave. He does not change. He is faithful.

This congregation’s history is a testimony to God’s faithfulness. There have been turbulent times. There have been times of despair. There have been times when the future could not be known. There have been times when conversations turned to hopelessness. But God has been and is faithful. And that is what today is about. We look into the faces of people who remind us of our history. We smile at the memories. But let us not forget that all of this is possible because of the faithfulness of God.

From the beginning of Lamentations 3, God is seen as the oppressor. He is seen as the one who is powerless and unwilling to deal with suffering. But then Jeremiah changes his perspective. He sees the mercy, compassion, and faithfulness of God and his heart changes. The latter part of chapter 3 is acceptance that the events of life—the suffering—is received because it is an opportunity for God to reveal his power. Jeremiah moves from despair to hope because he sees God as faithful. He understands that what is happening to him is not God’s desire (3:33) and he understands that it is in suffering that God’s power can be seen.

So it is that in the suffering of Jesus that we see the power of God. Let us turn our attention to the faithfulness of God as seen in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

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