The Steadfast Love of the Lord Never Ceases

Lamentation 3:22-25
The book of Lamentations was inspired by the Holy Spirit and written by the prophet Jeremiah who was called by God to prophecy the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. He lived to see his prophecy come to pass and was an eyewitness to the judgment God promised.

Lamentations begins with Jeremiah’s view of the utter destruction and ruin that befell Jerusalem and the temple.

Most of the people have been carried off into slavery—those who remained starved to death. The city and the temple were destroyed. The false prophets and unfaithful priests who cried out “peace, peace” were utterly mistaken and were slain in the temple that they never thought would fall. The soldiers who defended Jerusalem lay dead in the streets.

Jeremiah saw all of it—he was an eyewitness to the destruction and death he prophesied—and he knew the reason for God’s judgment. He wrote:

Jerusalem sinned grievously; therefore she became filthy…her transgressions were bound into a yoke and laid upon her neck…and the Lord gave her into the hands of those she could not withstand… for she rebelled against the Lord’s word.

The words of Jeremiah found in Lamentations are read in the Jewish liturgy when they commemorate the destruction of the temples and they are read in the Christian calendar on Good Friday in the service of darkness that commemorates our Lord’s death on the cross. They are the Old Testament lesson at our funerals.

The words of Lamentations give voice to the profound sorrow of the human heart when we see the destruction and judgment that our sins deserve and bring.

But it is right in the midst of these words of sorrow and suffering that the prophet Jeremiah is renewed in hope. He says: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases.

The love of the people for the Lord had failed. Time after time, in countless ways, they had shown that they had divided hearts—that they were guilty of spiritual adultery. So it is for us too—and with the same result.

While it is not utter destruction that we look upon in our country on this day of national thanksgiving—it is indeed spiritual darkness.

Our political leaders are paralyzed and poll after poll shows that our fellow citizens hold them in contempt. Our economic life is stagnant. What passes for entertainment has become cruder and coarser. Pornography is everywhere. Babies are murdered because they are inconvenient. And people we ought to be able to look up to—people who ought to be leaders—commit the most despicable crimes.

Can anyone doubt that the stained, torn fabric of our common life together is unrelated to the declining commitment to the Lord in our nation?

Can anyone doubt that the pilgrims who came to this country and our Lutheran forebears would be astounded and appalled to see that the Ten Commandments and public prayer and the emblems of Christianity are forbidden in more and more places in our nation?

Can anyone doubt that rapidly declining church attendance is unrelated to the declining moral fiber of our people?

In our nation, love for the LORD has grown cold and hearts are divided in their loyalties and all we can confess is that we justly the Lord’s temporal and eternal punishment.

But we too- along with Jeremiah- are renewed in hope—even in dark days—because the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases. The love that God has for us is not like ours for him. It never ebbs and flows. It never changes. It is never divided. It does not depend upon anything within us at all --but is reflective of who God is in his very being.

Even in the midst of the destruction that God had allowed to chastise his people, Jeremiah was certain of one thing: that the love that God had for his people was still in effect and he would mercifully come to their aid. He wrote that:
The LORD’s mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Mercy is the attitude and aid given to one who is weak by one who is powerful—it’s what unceasing love looks like in action towards those in need.

It was there between God and his people from the very beginning. God could have destroyed Adam and Eve after their sin—but he didn’t—he did what only he could do and forgave them and restored them to their original purpose as the mother and father of all the living.

God came to the aid of his enslaved people in Egypt when they had fallen so far as to have forgotten his name. He brought his people back from exile in Babylon. And he sent his own Son into the world to save those who could not save themselves.
God’s love is shown again and again in his mercy. The One who is mighty and powerful and strong to save—reaches out in love to help those who stand in need of his mercy and aid.

That is the certain promise that is made to us tonight in God’s Word: The Lord’s mercies never end. His willingness and power to aid his people is always present and can be counted on no matter how dark the day.

When a nation is on the wrong track—when we are afflicted with a terrible illness—when we are faced with economic ruin—when our own personal failures stand before our eyes—God’s mercies are new every morning.

Each morning when we open our eyes to begin a new day we can count on the Lord’s mercy, strength, and provision being sufficient for the day. That is why we don’t ever have to worry about what the future holds and indeed, are commanded not to worry—for the Lord has promised to use his might and power to come to our aid.

This last year has been a testimony to that promise for those assembled here. We sit here tonight fed and clothed and sheltered—our needs met—because the Lord has daily renewed his loving mercy towards us over this last year.

He has done this despite the fact that we have not served him as he deserves—that we have not loved him as he loves us—that we have not remembered to thank him for his provision. He has done this despite our faithlessness. It is this very thing that leads the prophet Jeremiah to say of the LORD: Great is your faithfulness!

We find the same sentiment in our catechism when we are asked: what it is that moves God to preserve, provide, and protect us. And Luther answers: God does all this purely out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. But then Luther goes on to ask us, what then do we owe our Father in heaven for all this? And the answer: It is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey him.

That is why we are here tonight—to thank and praise God for his faithfulness—that he has provided for us and protected us over this last year and promises to do the same in the year to come.

But what about those times like Jeremiah was going through—times when it seems like every good thing has been ripped away? Still we can give God thanks for: "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."

Can you imagine wandering the streets of Kingsville, seeing everything that is familiar and loved brought to ruin? Of coming here to Tenth and Doddridge and seeing our beloved sanctuary destroyed and defiled? Of coming across your friends and loved ones lying in the street, dead and dying?

That was the scene that greeted Jeremiah as he wandered the streets of Jerusalem and yet he knew that the one thing needful had not been stripped away from him and indeed could not be lost: that the LORD was his portion. His life with God could not be harmed by terrible things that happened to him in this life-- and so it is for us.

God grant that we never go through what Jeremiah went through or see what he saw—but we should also never forget that there is coming a day when every earthly thing will be stripped away: our health will fail, loved ones will die, and we will return to the dust of the earth.

It may happen slowly over many decades or it may happen in a moment-- but we too will know what it means to lose everything that our eyes have seen and our hands have touched.

That is why it is such good news that we cannot lose the one thing needful—the one thing that really, eternally matters: and that is our life with God. The LORD himself is our portion because Jesus Christ has taken away our sins and restored our relationship with God. And because the LORD is our portion, no matter how dark the days—there is hope for the future.

Hope looks forward to the future with the confidence of faith. And that is possible—even when death comes—because there is a future for us that death will not end. Jesus’ resurrection IS our hope. He is the promise that even death need not cast a dark cloud over our lives.

And so we too look forward to the future expecting good from the Lord. Jeremiah writes: The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

We don’t know what the new year will hold for us and for our nation. But we do know that the One who is the Author of history—the One who wisely guides our lives—the One who has brought us to this time and place safely—will continue to be the same kind of merciful, wise, good God that we have known in this last year. The Bible promises us that ALL things work for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

This promise of goodness from the Lord (a promise that he has never failed to keep) is the encouragement we need to trust him in those times when he seems slow to act—to trust him in those times when we would chosen differently for ourselves-- and know that God is patiently working for our good in the midst of it.

The Lord’s goodness, mercy, and love give us the confidence we need to put him first in our lives. We don’t have to worry that we will somehow miss out on some good things when we serve and obey him because we can trust his steadfast love to graciously give us all that we need for body and soul—just as he always has. Amen.