Trusting the Faithfulness of God
Today, I wanted to share a word with you that I hope will empower and equip you when you are going through hard and tough times.
In Lamentations chapter 3 verses 21 through verses 24, it reads
21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassion never fails.
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
I will share a bit of background about Jeremiah. Jeremiah was in great sorrow.
And he was in great distress because of the judgment that God had placed upon Judah. He was in great sorrow and great distress at this point of time.
And I know a lot of us have times of discouragement, times of oppression and depression, times of darkness, frustrations and uncertainties. You are tired of dealing with certain circumstances and situations and things just look bleak, and dark, and you're just in a state of distress, and you just don't know what to do or what's going to happen.
This is the state of mind that Jeremiah was here, because of work, because of the judgment that God had placed upon Judah.
But as we continue to read, Jeremiah had reached a great point of despair, and wrote of his sorrow.
During that time, there was a dramatic change that took place in the heart and the mind of Jeremiah. And it was the beginning of a turning point for him.
If we go back and look in Lamentations, verses 21 it says this I RECALL to mind, therefore, I have hope.
So we're gonna look at the word recall for a minute.
When you think about the word recall, it means remembering something learned or experienced. When we recall something we remember that day, we reflect back to that thing.
Jeremiah said this I recall to my mind, when he began to think about the goodness of God, where he began to think about the faithfulness of God, his mindset began to shift.
Have you ever been in a place where you were in a state of anxiety? Operating in the state of depression because it seemed like it was perplexity on every side?
But as you begin to recall the goodness of God, as you begin to recall the faithfulness of God, you begin to have a mind shift, your mind, attitude and spirit begin to shift in another direction.
Jeremiah said, in the next verse, since I recall this, since I am remembering this, since I am reflecting on the faithfulness of God, for this very reason, I have hope. I have that blessed hope, that in spite of what's going on in my life, in spite of what I see in the human eye, in spite of what I am experiencing, I have hope!!!
If you're going through a dark place right now, a dark season in your life, recall and reflect back to the faithfulness of God, reflect back to His track record.
So today, I just want to share these 3 things that we can recall during tough times of our life, and the different and difficult seasons that we may go through.
1.Recall back and reflect back to His mercies.
He said, because of His mercies, I'm not consumed, because of His mercies I have not been destroyed. His love is so gracious towards us, and His mercies endures forever. We don't have to try to live off of yesterday's mercies because He said, “My mercies are fresh. My mercies are new every morning.”
So we have a fresh cup. We have a fresh dose of mercies every morning that we're waking up to. And not only that, but his compassion and His love, never fails
2.God’s faithfulness.
Let's recall back to His faithfulness. And when we talk about his faithfulness, it means that God is permanent.
That means He's always there.
That means that He's always with us. It may not feel like it sometimes, we may be asking God, where are you? I don't see you nowhere in this, I don't feel you.
But His love and His faithfulness is permanent.
He said, He will always be with us and we have security in Him. It is His faithfulness that made Him reliable too. We can depend and we can rely on Him. He said in His word that the faces that look to Him, we're not to be put to shame, that's because we are trusting in Him.
He's a promise keeper.
He keeps His promises.
He cannot be unfaithful. You know why, because He can't be unfaithful to us?
Because the Word says He cannot deny Himself. Being faithful is a part of God’s nature. So even when we are unfaithful, God still remains faithful. He remains faithful, because it's a part of who He is.
3.He's our portion.
Remember, in those dark times, and those times of uncertainty, recall back and see that God has you.
He's our portion, which means He's our source. He's our everything. We can be content with all that He will provide for us, He is our portion, everything else may fail us. But He is the strength of our heart, and He is the strength of our life.
When we reflect back and recall back and we think back to His mercies, we think about His faithfulness and we think about Him as our portion, this is when we can rest because we have hope.
So I just want to encourage you today, that in the darkest hour, in those times where you are uncertain, in those times, where you may be going through most different times in your life, just remember the faithfulness of God.
Reflection Questions.
1. How have you personally seen God’s faithfulness work in your life?
2. Define the faithfulness of God as best as you can.
3. List three areas in the past where you personally have seen God show His faithfulness.
4. Have you completely trusted Him as your Portion in your life?
Prayer:
God, thank you for your faithfulness. We worship you. We trust you. We declare that you are faithful, good, loving and your mercies endures forever. Thank you that you are always with us and that we have all that we need in you.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.