Talking Back to God

Transcript

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[0:00] So we read that Psalm today. Thank you, Brian. That was a really beautiful reading today because we are making a little bit of a transition. So we've been reading through Lamentations chapters one through four, and they've been dark and they've been heavy and they've been full of pain. And Lamentations five is also full of pain, but there's a little switch and it starts to look just like a psalm of lament. So it's no more just complete crying out. Suddenly there's a recognition of God in the conversation, just like in the psalms of lament and in other traditional lament prayer formats. This is what Lamentations five starts to look like. So while we're reading through Lamentations five and we're not going to read the whole chapter, we're going to skip a few verses in between. We'll read one through nine and then skip to 19. But think about the format that it takes, that it's a lot like a lament psalm.

[1:18] So here's Lamentations five when we read it. Lamentations five, one through nine and 19 through 22. Remember, Lord, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace. Our inheritance has turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. We have become fatherless. Our mothers are widows. We must buy the water we drink. Our wood can be had only at a price. Those who pursue us are at our heels. We are weary and find no rest.

[1:53] We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread. Our ancestors sinned and are no more and we bear their punishment. Slaves rule over us and there is no one to free us from their hands. We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the desert.

[2:14] You, Lord, reign forever. Your throne endures from generation to generation. Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return. Renew our days of old unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure. Let's pray.

[2:43] Our good and gracious Lord, we ask for your blessing upon the words that we hear today. We pray that you would speak to our hearts and our minds. We pray that your spirit would give us exactly the message that you want us to take away. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[3:07] So this is the final chapter in Lamentations and we're offered a little bit of familiarity and comfort as this complaint turns into not just a one-way stream of frustration, but a two-way dialogue with God. In the fourth poem, chapter four, we read the description of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and their suffering during the time of the fall of the city and temple. And the suffering and pain that is being experienced offer a time for Jeremiah and for the people to reflect on what has happened and why. This was their opportunity to learn that their own sin and their sin's stubborn unwillingness to listen to the truth that God's prophets had tried to proclaim has brought them directly to their own judgment. And worse, we saw that the leaders and the priests of the land, those who were supposed to be most on the same page with God and who were responsible for proclaiming his message and being living examples for him, the so-called prophets and priests, were the ones committing the sins, even killing those who were righteous in the streets. In Lamentations 4, 17, Jeremiah reflects on how there was no one to help deliver them. Only God can deliver. Only God can save. And everyone had failed them.

[4:43] The priests and teachers of the law had failed them. The kings and leaders of the land had failed them. And so the people were looking for true prophets, real speakers of God, and true priests and righteous kings who would be able to save them. And so that brings us to Lamentations 5. And that reflection on what the land needed is what led Jeremiah to prayer.

[5:13] So in the very first chapter, we saw that the author understands that the first place to turn when you're in a state of grief and pain is to the Lord in prayer. No one can help except God. No one can comfort except God. So this final chapter is this prayer to God. This is less structured than the rest of the book. The rest of the book has a lot of text. It has an acrostic structure. But maybe entering into this pure and emotional prayer means that the author feels more free in his expression. So the poem does have a slight appearance of an acrostic in that it has 22 lines, just like there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. But as we read this poem, just look for what the author is asking for, and what the basis of his prayer is.

[6:17] And the first thing that we see is in verses 1 through 18. We look at the first 18 verses, and it sounds a lot like the same thing we're hearing over and over earlier in the other four chapters. But if we look really carefully, we're going to see that the author is not just saying the same thing all over. Because look at how verse 1 says, And verse 1 begins, Remember, Lord, what has happened to us. Look, see our disgrace.

[6:53] He's calling on God to enter into the conversation. Now why does Jeremiah ask God to remember? It's not that he thinks God does not know what happened. And it's not that he thinks God has already forgotten what he said in the last four chapters. It's more about the relationship.

[7:17] Remember what you, God, have been through with us, your people, together. We've been there together. Remember that. There were promises made between us. When we read about people in scriptures asking God to remember something, the thing that they always want God to remember is his covenant promises.

[7:44] Lord, remember the promises that you made. You made to me. You made to us, your people, as a nation. Remember them. And why do they ask God to remember these promises? Because again, it's not like God's likely to forget. God doesn't forget. Instead, they're asking God to take action.

[8:10] The author is saying, We know that you are faithful, God. We know that you keep your covenant promises. We can trust that. Look what has happened to us, though. Act on your faithful promises toward us and restore us. Remember what you said. God had made a very important promise to David in 2 Samuel 7, 13-16.

[8:37] He is the one who will build a house, a temple for my name, and I will secure his royal throne forever. I will be his father and he will be my son. If he sins, I will correct and discipline him with a rod like any father would do, but my favor will not be taken from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from your sight. Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever. And yet here they were. And if you read this, remember back to the verses we just read, they're parentless. There is no king on the throne. It looks like these promises are shattered.

[9:22] So God said that the throne of his kingdom would be forever. God said that his steadfast love would never depart, even though he would commit sins. God said the house, which is the temple, and the kingdom would be sure and established forever. But then go back to Jeremiah, and the people of Jerusalem. God's promises seemed to be dashed. The throne had ended. The temple had been destroyed. The people are ruined.

[9:52] God, remember your promises. Remember, Lord, and look at what has happened to us. So this is the reason that the author retraces all that has happened to them. He's invoking in his prayer the faithfulness of God to keep his word.

[10:10] The author is bargaining with God. He's actively asking God to remember, giving God a plea. And we don't necessarily see God's response, as the conversation is in the form of a prayer, or a typical lament psalm like we talked about earlier. But we do see and feel his inclusion as the poet writes about these covenant promises, because the covenant is a two-way street. The previous chapters were written in the form of a prayer, or one-way complaints. But there must always be two parties in a covenant.

[10:46] And in the covenant relationship between God and God's people, it's not just about one party who holds all of the power, and all of the cards, and does all of the talking. It's a relationship between the powerful and the powerless. And here both come to the table in this relationship, and both are heard. Equally.

[11:12] In our book, Dr. Ra highlights a key issue with removing lament from worship, and that is the loss of voice. You cannot take one voice out of a covenant relationship. Then it's not a relationship at all. Well, it's a relationship, it's just one where the power is abused. When we structure our worship so that it's only praise all the time to God, and it's only following God, and it's only following liturgy, and never ever voicing our complaints, or pushing back on the injustices, then we never get into this conversation with God, and we never get a full understanding of God that way. And God becomes this distant object of worship instead of a personal character who cares about our pain and our suffering, and wants to be intimately involved in every aspect of our lives. So by entering into this two-way conversation, the dialogue gives a voice to the oppressed instead of somebody speaking on behalf of the oppressed. And we haven't heard that until now in the book of Lamentations. We've heard Jeremiah speaking on their behalf. The voice of the petitioner is heard when you enter into this two-way covenant conversation, and God takes it seriously. And gives a certain amount of power to the petitioner, making the conversation legitimately two-sided.

[12:48] When the oppressed are given a voice, they are given the opportunity to call out and bring righteousness to the injustices. So as we move on in this chapter and in the book, we see that the dialogue between God and his people has given space for true hope to show up. And that hope is to shine through. When the lament opens up to include God, there's hope for the future. The first bit of hope is seen with the movement from a voice speaking on behalf of the sufferers to the sufferers being given the chance to speak on their own behalf. And this offers the hope that the sufferers are truly being heard. And the beauty of a relationship with Christ is being able to express your own story and your own truth, both directly to God and to the people around you.

[13:47] Dr. Ra claims that the work of a Christian witness is to help empower people to fully express their stories to God and the rest of the world. Speaking on behalf of the suffering is only the very beginning of a ministry. And if it never moves forward, or beyond that point, then something is wrong.

[14:10] Successful ministry is when the sufferers can be in direct dialogue themselves. And that's what God wants for each of us, to be in direct dialogue with him, especially for those who are particularly suffering or oppressed.

[14:26] The rest of that hope comes from the remembrance of God. When we have hope, or we do have hope, when we remember that in all of this pain and suffering, the Lord reigns and is in control of everything. Verse 19 seems to be this essential and pivotal point of the prayer. You, Lord, reign forever. Your throne endures from generation to generation. This is a point of acknowledgement, of relieving submission. We are in your hands, and you reign.

[15:04] You exercise sovereign control. Even in desolation, God is still reigning, and he remains in control. And the book of Revelation carries the same messages, where Christians are being killed for the cause of Christ, yet the book of Revelation opens with the Lord on the throne and closes with Jesus riding on the white horse, destroying enemies. All the suffering and pain and scary, dark things that happen in Revelation, and yet God reigns and is in control. And there's comfort and relief with this acknowledgement. God is not like people. A person, no matter how righteous, is still flawed and will bring their help with some sort of bias or some sort of ulterior motive. But with God, there's only goodness and righteous justice. So simply remembering that God is not like people, and that God is in control, brings hope to the sufferers. But it also brings hope that the cries will be heard. So the author continues to cry out, if you are in control, then why have you not moved on our behalf yet? Why is there still pain and suffering? Why have you still forgotten us? Well, we said earlier, God does not forget. This is once again in reference to that covenant promise. It's not even that God has forgotten what God has promised them,

[16:37] but rather that God has not yet moved on their behalf. The author is not saying that all-knowing God has actually forgotten. So Jeremiah cries out, Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may return. And how great is it that we can go to God in prayer and push back on the words, on his own words, for him to be faithful to. Dr. Ra talks a bit about that pushing back. We're given that power in this covenant relationship. We're given a chance to speak our minds truthfully and without holding back.

[17:16] What other religion can you talk back to God? Very few. Where you get to just be honest and not worry about punishment or being, or being irreverent. You're allowed to talk back to God. We're allowed to bring our anger before God. We're allowed to tell God what we think, even if what we think is not, is that God is not doing his part. And we see people in the scriptures doing exactly that. Think about how Abraham bargained with God over Sodom and Gomorrah. The reason that Abraham can feel empowered to ask more and more and more of God in that situation uh, sorry I lost, uh, is not going, uh, is because God is going to answer him. God is going to allow him to. God wants our push back. God wants to hear from Abraham and he wants to hear from us. And God is faithful. So he knows that he can go before God and push back. We can press into God, uh, with our requests, holding onto the faithful promises of God, and know that he has promised to never destroy the righteous.

[18:40] So if you go to God in righteousness, you're allowed to express your anger and your frustration and your fear and your sadness, even with him. Uh, and he's not going to destroy the righteous. Uh, we read in Philippians 4 that we do not have to be anxious because in everything we can make our requests known to God. In everything, we can make our requests known to God. And this is what the author of Lamentations is doing. We can do the same today.

[19:15] I think we should find immeasurable hope in this chapter of Lamentations. And yet, all at the same time, there are some things that are left unresolved. And we are, are left on a minor, minor key ending in Dr. Ra's book as well.

[19:34] The question is, are we okay with that? We don't tend to like that. We like to tie things up and have it presented in a neat little bow, with all the odds and ends cleaned up. And for a while, in this final poem of Lamentations, we have that hope that we craved. So why can't we just end on that feeling of hope and push the painful stuff back out of our minds? We've had our time of lament. We found the hope. Can we be done and end on a happy note? But we live in this world of already and not yet.

[20:20] Christ has already come. And so we can throw ourselves before God unhindered. And we can see Christ in the midst of the suffering. We can see glimmers of hope because Christ has already come. We can yell, we can scream, we can cry out. And God hears our pain and meets us where we are. But one look around this world implies that the suffering is unanswered. So yes, we can see Christ inside the suffering, but the suffering is still there. Because we still live in this broken world that has yet to come. And we can see that the suffering has yet to come to its full restoration through the return of Christ. So we continue to lament. With all that lament means, we must continue to cry out on behalf of the suffering. And we must continue to be agents for Christ in a broken world. And we must continue to empower the suffering with their own voice to cry out to God and to bring notice to the others, to the plight of others.

[21:26] Part of being a Christian and being a celebrationist culture is that we crave this fairytale ending of the happily ever after. But that's not reality. At least not yet. And we don't know when that happily ever after will come. We have no idea. And that's part of living in this tension of the minor key. That we don't know when Christ will return. And so the suffering endures.

[21:53] And we're not truly the hands of faith or the hands and feet of Jesus in this world if we remove ourself from the suffering and refuse to see it and only live in the moments of praise and the moments of joy. To be his agents of light in the darkness means we have to invest ourselves even in the lament and the suffering and that minor key. Even if it means that there's no resolution or no quick resolution any time soon. So we have hope that one day all suffering will end and complete righteousness will renew this world. But until that day comes we must live fully into this world especially in those places of suffering. And so we end this series of prophetic lament on a minor key. And we do not have an easy simple fix. And we do not have a fairy tale ending. We have a world that still suffers. And it's okay to live into that tension.

[23:09] Let's pray. Our good our compassionate our loving God we come before you and we lament the sufferings of this world. God we thank you for the hope that you bring. We thank you that you hear the cries of the hurting.

[23:37] God would you help us to live into this tension faithfully. To bring praise to you in the times where we feel praise and to bring lament to you in the times of suffering. These things we pray in Jesus name.