Overview:
When the weight of sorrow drags us deep into despair, how do we rise from the pit? At the midpoint of Jeremiah’s Lamentations and the heart of his message is a lifeline of truth about God to which we can cling when we hit bottom. God is infinitely good and loving, and He will never forsake us. Our heavenly Father may discipline His rebellious children with one hand, but He will redeem us with the other. How can we be certain? Lamentations 3:22–24 gives the guarantee.
Message Summary:
In this message centering on Lamentations 3, Chuck Swindoll addresses how to find hope during “treacherous times” when the world feels devastating and out of control. Swindoll transports the listener to the mindset of Jeremiah, the “Weeping Prophet,” who witnessed the total destruction of Jerusalem and the starving of its children. Swindoll describes the first half of Lamentations 3 as Jeremiah’s “journal of woe,” where the prophet relentlessly repeats the phrase “He has,” acknowledging that God has led him into darkness, broken his bones, and walled him in [9–10].
Swindoll warns that hitting rock bottom brings a specific spiritual danger: self-pity. He argues that self-pity is “deadly and demonic,” a trap set by the adversary to drive people toward isolation, panic, and even suicide [10–12]. However, the sermon pivots on the crucial word “Yet” in verse 21. Swindoll explains that hope returns not when circumstances change, but when the mind remembers the unchanging character of God. Jeremiah “dares to hope” by recalling that God’s loyal love never ends and His mercies begin afresh every morning, like a sunrise that appears even behind the clouds [14–15].
The message concludes with a call to authenticity over performance. Swindoll uses the infamous story of Rosie Ruiz—the marathon runner who faked her victory—to illustrate the concept of a “religiopath”: a person who wants the glory of the finish line without running the race of private prayer and endurance. He challenges the congregation to cultivate a secret life with God that is “hidden but persistent,” asserting that what we do in secret determines the soundness of who we are in public [22–24].
Message Key Facts:
- The Statue in Geneva: Swindoll recalls visiting a statue of Jeremiah in Geneva, Switzerland, located near the historic sites of John Calvin and John Knox. He describes Jeremiah’s “timeless gaze” as a reminder of a man who preached faithfully for four decades despite being rejected, imprisoned, and ignored by his people [4–5].
- The “He Has” Monotony: Swindoll notes that in the first 20 verses of Lamentations 3 (specifically in the New Living Translation), the phrase “He has” appears 17 or 18 times. This repetition emphasizes that Jeremiah sees God’s hand in his suffering, leading him to the very bottom of the pit [9–10].
- The Danger of Self-Pity: Quoting author David Roper, Swindoll warns that “to resist the pain is to miss the purpose of it.” He identifies self-pity as the enemy’s tool to stall believers into introspection and inertia, whereas suffering is intended to produce counsel and wisdom we could not otherwise possess [12–13].
- The Sunrise Principle: Swindoll focuses on Lamentations 3:23—”His mercies begin afresh each morning.” He encourages listeners to thank God for the sunrise every day as a physical reminder that God’s faithfulness is undiminished, regardless of the “bad news” in the world.
- The Lord as Inheritance: In verse 24, Jeremiah says, “The Lord is my inheritance.” Swindoll clarifies that a believer’s inheritance is not their health, political party, or the state of the nation, but the Lord Himself. This realization allows a person to tell self-pity to “take a hike” [16–18].
- Sam Johnson’s Survival: Swindoll shares a conversation with Sam Johnson, a POW who survived seven years in the “Hanoi Hilton.” Johnson survived by telling himself, “This isn’t the end… this may be the end of the beginning.” It was an internal mental discipline that kept hope alive.
- The “Religiopath”: Citing Eugene Peterson’s book Run with the Horses, Swindoll defines a “religiopath” as someone who has no personal life leading up to or out of their public religious acts. Like Rosie Ruiz jumping into the marathon at the end, they lack the “secret work” of prayer that develops an authentic life [23–24].
- The Mirror Test: Swindoll offers a practical “experiment” to combat hopelessness: stand before a mirror and breathe. If it fogs up, God still has a plan for you, because He is the one sustaining your breath and heartbeat.
Message References:
- Lamentations 3:1–20: The description of the “rod of the Lord’s anger” and the experience of hitting bottom.
- Lamentations 3:21–23: The pivot to hope: “Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends… Great is his faithfulness”.
- Lamentations 3:24: “I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him'”.
- Lamentations 3:28: “Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord’s demands”.
- Lamentations 3:55–57: The prayer from the pit: “I called on your name, O Lord, from deep within the pit… You told me, ‘Do not fear'”.
