Another great lesson!

Over the past few weeks I have really enjoyed the Sunday School class I have joined.  Yesterday, was no exception and she had another great lesson... this time from Lamentations of all books!

The lesson was about suffering and who we rely on during suffering and what steps to take.  

Step 1: Express your pain
Jeremiah is a great example because he writes about his suffering in Lamentations.  In 3:1-3 he talks about the feeling of being alone and feeling God is not on His side.  This continues in vs 7-9 when he feels his prayers aren't being heard and he is trapped.  This made me stop and think yesterday about all the times we might not feel God's presence... we might feel that our prayers aren't being heard.  We can beat ourselves up like Jeremiah and in frustration tell God how alone we feel.  In vs 17-18 Jeremiah goes onto say that he has no more peace, he has no more prosperity.  Sometimes we go through hard times and we lose what is most comfortable to us.  We lose our position of authority, we lose the comforts and peace of mind that we had come to know.  You might think that all of this lashing out towards God was wrong of Jeremiah, but in fact he's just expressing his frustrations to God and not letting it fester.  When something goes wrong, or doesn't go our way, or life throws us a curveball ... we can let that sink in and get so angry that our lives begin to reflect that anger.  We can shut ourselves off from the world and dwell on the suffering...  OR... we can do as Jeremiah did and let it all out... give our frustrations, our cares, our anxieties to the One who can truly handle it.

The lesson didn't end here... it ended with the most important step. 

Step 2: Remind yourself of the Lord's: faithful love, purpose and power
This step is so important, because if you just express your pain, but then don't do anything- you haven't really helped yourself.  We see in vs 22-26 that Jeremiah (after venting) makes a conscious decision to remember the Lord's goodness.  He makes a decision to pull himself up and remember that God is good no matter what else it seems we've lost.  These verses are too good not to be typed out... so here you go:

        "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."  The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

Jeremiah reminds us that the Lord is always good and always faithful, but sometimes pain will come.  We can grieve for while, but eventually we have to pull ourselves up and remember to wait on the Lord.  We forget sometimes that 'waiting' and 'hoping' are action words... it takes a conscious effort to 'wait' on God and to 'hope' in Him.  We need to look for His new compassions each morning.  Some days those may be small things, others may be larger.  He has bigger plans and bigger purposes that we can't see... and even in the worst situation- or what we may feel is the worst situation- God's will prevails and we must wait on that and have hope in that.

**Sidenote:  This lesson may mean nothing to you, but I encourage you to read Chapter 3 of Lamentations (or the whole book) for yourself and just give it a little more time to sink in.  We all go through suffering at some point and we all need to remember God's faithfulness through it. 

Hymn: Great is Thy Faithfulness (vs 1 and chorus)

"Great is Thy faithfulness," O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

"Great is Thy faithfulness!" "Great is Thy faithfulness!"
  Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
    "Great is Thy faithfulness," Lord, unto me!