One of the greatest blessings of life is to know God.
Knowing God means that He also knows us.
God knowing us means He knows life hurts at times. Whenever I go through hard, sad, dark, and discouraging times, I can testify with many of you that the greatest cure comes from looking at Jesus.
Remember how Isaiah 53.3 calls Jesus “A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…”. It sounds to me like just the one to get to know when troubles, pains, and afflictions come rolling through like an unexpected summer storm on the picnic of our life.
Jesus Knows our PAIN
So where do I look when life hurts? I start in
Hebrews 4:15-16 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Did you catch that? Jesus can ‘feel the pain with us of our weaknesses’. Now what would you call depression, discouragement, frustration, sadness, and so on – weaknesses. And what does Jesus do? He feels the pain with us. The word is sum-pascho ‘with’ ‘pain’. In fact, the pain of the cross is called the paschal time or pain time. And that is what Jesus feels for us.
Great so how does that help us? Well to bridge the chasm between the High and Mighty Sinless Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory – and you and me, God gave us the cast of this Book. This morning look with me at an Old Testament figure whose life reflects the feelings of Jesus for our weaknesses we painfully live with. His name – Jeremiah. His testimony is the 25th book of God’s Word, and it is called Lamentations. Does that title suggest anything to you? It is the cry of a troubles soul. It is the testimony of a man who knew pain, weakness, and much sorrow.
As you turn to that 25th Book of God’s Word, Lamentations 3 — let me briefly sketch the life of this incredible servant of God. Jeremiah must have had an incredible childhood. The Scriptures tell us God had chosen him before his birth to be a prophet. His family was notable in their service for the LORD. Life was exciting for the son of a high priest.
Jeremiah 1:1 The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, (NASB)
One of the great blessings of Jeremiah’s life was that his dad was the one who found the lost book of the Law. How Jeremiah’s love for the Word showed through in his life as God’s prophet. He was the “son of Hilkiah” (Jer. 1:1) and as 2 Kings 22:8 records:
“And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.”
Note also Jeremiah’s uncle was Shallum husband of Huldah the prophetess as Jeremiah 32:7 tells us:
Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it. (KJV)
When Troubles Come in Overwhelming Waves
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