GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY IN OUR SUFFERINGS
Heart to Heart: “For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” Lamentations 3: 33
If you are suffering, I highly recommend reading the 3rd chapter of the book of Lamentations. The weeping prophet Jeremiah knew what it was to experience prolonged pain and suffering. An as the old saying goes, “unless you’ve walked in my shoes…” there’s no way you can truly know what one is going through during their trials. But Jeremiah knew, and He wasn’t afraid to express the plethora of his feelings because of the resulting pain and despair. In the first 18 verses, Jeremiah expresses what seems to be feelings of not only being abandoned by God, but also being viciously attacked by the LORD. He likens it to the ambush of a lion, the brutality of a bear. When we know and understand the sovereignty of God, it is quite difficult to reconcile the sufferings He allows us to go through. For Jeremiah, (as well as for most of us), initially, the only way to reconcile it is by falsely believing that God Himself is punishing us. We feel as though God is pouring out His wrath upon us and there is no way to escape. (Yet, the Gospel declares otherwise).
But then that would mean that God isn’t innately good. So, one now has to attempt to reconcile the goodness of God, along with His sovereignty, and in light of our trials. Thankfully, in Lamentations chapter 3, this is exactly what Jeremiah did. He didn’t allow himself to believe the lie that God wasn’t for him and that HE was doing evil towards him. Beginning in verse 19, Jeremiah begins to cry out to God; he declares His goodness as though he knows this is exactly what will lead him to hope! Jeremiah goes on to acknowledge the mercies, compassions, and faithfulness of God. He declares in verse 23 “Great is Your Faithfulness!” (Emphasis mines).
Jeremiah’s meditation on the goodness and true character of the LORD begins to translate into his being able to apply those truths to his current circumstances. He realizes the importance of being able to seek the Lord as he purposes to hope and wait quietly for His deliverance. Furthermore, he also understands that goodness can result from the “yokes’ which we have been called to bear. Now, Jeremiah is able to move towards correctly reconciling the place of God’s sovereignty in the midst of his suffering.
In verse 28, Jeremiah begins providing some instructions regarding what our response to our trials should be, as well as the reason why. In all, we can begin to understand the importance and role of acceptance. We can accept our lot, respond to it with hopeful silent waiting, and submission, all because “God has laid it on him,” (us). He knows that it’s not so much that the LORD is doing this to us; but rather, because He is sovereign, He has indeed allowed it to happen to us.
The question is why, yet Jeremiah is already understanding that it is for our good! (Remember Romans 8:28). Through the prophet Jeremiah, the LORD wants all His children to know that when we go through the hardest of times, they will not last forever. God has a plan and a purpose, and He uses everything that He allows to come into our lives. Verses 31-32 says “For the Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief (remember-in that He allows it), Yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.” Just think, beyond salvation, we won’t get to really experience first-hand the goodness and power of God on this earth, without seeing Him miraculously showing up for us, doing something incredible in what we thought to be an impossible situation.
I believe verse 33 is the crux of understanding Who our God is when He allows us to suffer. It says, “For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” You see it’s not that the LORD wants us to suffer, it’s that He knows that we need to. Verses 40-42 provides insight as to why we need it. It says, “Let us search out our ways, and turn back to the LORD; Let us lift our hearts to heaven. We have transgressed and rebelled;” The LORD allows affliction to either turn us back to Himself, move us closer to Him, and to build our Christ-like character. When we endure trials and tribulation, it’s difficult to go deeper and look past the circumstances to examine ourselves. We feel as though we are in the midst of being victimized, yet the only way to get to the victory is to look inwardly as we cry out the GOD, believing Him for the final outcome.
It’s amazing to see just how quickly the LORD will respond to our cries! Jeremiah said he cried out from the lowest pit and on that day (right away) the LORD drew near to him and told him not to fear. (See Verses 55-57). When we cry out to the LORD, we will experience His redemption! That redemption actually begins the moment we begin acknowledging the goodness of the LORD and accepting that which He has deemed acceptable for this current time in our lives. It is through our drawing near to Him that He draws near to us (James 4:8) When we suffer-HE is right there! The result of experiencing God’s redemption is having the sweet opportunity to experience God Himself. Do you trust the LORD with your affliction? Decide that you can and the outcome will be exactly what HE decided to extract out of it. In the end, it will all have been worth it. Believing that now is key to thriving instead of simply surviving the pain.
HEART MATTERS: WALK WITH HIM THROUGH YOUR TRIALS AND YOU WILL SEE JUST HOW FAITHFUL HE IS!