Please turn now with me in your Bibles to the Book of Lamentations, chapter three. If you have the packet of materials that was emailed out or that you received this morning, I added the scripture reading to the things that I was sending out by email. And so the entirety of the passage that we'll now read should be in your packets as well. I mentioned last week that we will be splitting Lamentations chapter 3 into three sections. We'll hit chapters 1, 2, 4, and 5 with one sermon each, but this glorious triple acrostic in the middle of this extraordinary book, we will look at in three sermons. So this morning is the middle of those three sermons as we turn now to the middle portion of Lamentations chapter 3. Before we begin reading, let's turn to the Lord again in prayer. We call upon you, Lord God, as the God who speaks, as the God who has been gracious to communicate his word, as the God who sows the seed of his gospel in the hearts of men and women. We pray now, Father, that those seeds would not remain unfruitful. We pray for that powerful inner ministry of the Holy Spirit to take the seed of your word and to bring forth the fruit of faith and obedience and worship and service of faith and hope and love. We are a needy people, Father. Be mindful of our neediness, be mindful of our hunger and feed us now from your word. Speak to us and sanctify us that we might praise your holy name and lay hold of Jesus, that we might walk by faith in the land of the living. We pray for these blessings in Jesus' name. Amen. Lamentations chapter three, beginning in verse 19. Remember my affliction and roaming. the wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers and sinks within me. This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I hope in him. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone and keep silent because God has laid it on him. Let him put his mouth in the dust there may yet be hope. Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes and be full of reproach. For the Lord will not cast off forever, though he causes grief, yet he will show compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men, to crush under one's feet all the prisoners of the earth, to turn aside the justice due a man before the face of the Most High, or subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve. Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass when the Lord has not commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed? Why should a living man complain? A man for the punishment of his sins. Christian writers have long talked about what is known as the dark night of the soul. The Christian life in this present age is not one of uninterrupted light, where we always see God and see his ways and see his blessings with undiminished clarity. Sometimes we go through seasons where in his wisdom and in the mystery of his providence, God brings us not into greater light, but into greater darkness, into spiritual distress. Some Christian writers have called it spiritual desertion. When God leaves us again in his wisdom, in the mystery of his providence, in spiritual darkness for a time, maybe in your own experience, you can recall such a time. Maybe you are in such a time now. What should you do when you find yourself in the dark night of the soul? When you long for the light of God's presence, but find yourself instead surrounded by the darkness of what feels to be God's seeming absence? Well, wonderfully, God's Word shows us what to do. We are not left to guess. We are not left on our own. There are places in the Bible where we see people walking through this very darkness. Particularly, think about the many Psalms that we love and that we sing, where we have the prayers and the praises of God's people as they struggle with this distress and this darkness. My tears have been my food day and night while they continually say to me, where is your God? Why are you cast down, oh my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? I will say to God my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Familiar words, perhaps, from Psalm 42. God's Word acknowledges very clearly that spiritual darkness can be the experience even of God's children in this life. Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the voice of his servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God. That's Isaiah chapter 50. And there are many different reasons, reasons unique to each individual and to each soul, why God sometimes leads his children into these places. But the bottom line is this, our souls are still afflicted and weighted down with great weakness and darkness and sin in this present life. And in God's saving purposes, he uses times of darkness ultimately to save us, to heighten our awareness of the richness of his grace and to bring us closer to him in the bond of the Spirit and in union with Jesus Christ. The confession of our church is the Westminster Confession of Faith, and our confession is actually, it may seem long, but it's actually very choosy as to what it includes and what it does not. After all, in 33 chapters, their goal is to summarize Christianity. Every paragraph is very carefully chosen. And with that in mind, I've always found it fascinating and wonderful that an entire paragraph and a decently lengthy paragraph at that is devoted to this very pastoral concern that we've been talking about. The spiritual darkness that can sometimes be the experience of God's people. Now, I don't often just read from the confession in the morning sermon. I'm actually not sure I've done it before. That's normally what our afternoon service is for, but I'd like now to read for us one paragraph from our confession of faith. True believers may have the assurance of their salvation, diverse, ways, shaken, diminished, and intermitted. The confession is telling us that in many different ways, God can be pleased in this life to allow our assurance to be shaken or diminished or intermitted, that is taken away for a time. As by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into some special sin, which wounds the conscience and grieves the spirit, by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God's withdrawing the light of his countenance and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and have no light. Yet they are never utterly destitute of that seed of God and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty, out of which by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may in due time be revived. And by the which in the meantime, they are supported from utter despair. The writers of the confession had pastor's hearts and they wanted God's people to know what's going on when they experience that spiritual darkness. Now, why are we talking about it at such length here in conjunction with Lamentations chapter three? Well, think of it this way. If dark nights of the soul can be graded in terms of degrees of darkness, Lamentations is about as far down the pitch black end of the scale as you can get. Remember verse two of chapter three, he that is God, he has led me and made me walk in darkness and not in light. You see, it's passages like that that our confession is turned to when it says that God in his providence may withdraw the light of his presence for a time. Verse 17 of chapter three, you, again, he's speaking of God, you have moved my soul far from peace. I have forgotten prosperity. As we saw last week, verses one through 20 are this continual descent into greater and greater darkness. Verse 17, his soul is far from peace. Verse 18, strength and hope have perished. Verse 19, his memories are wormwood and gall. And then verse 20, he cannot remember his own afflictions without his soul sinking in despair. He is the man who has seen affliction by the rod of God's wrath. And that rod has brought him to a place of bleak darkness. But remember verse 21, there's a crucial moment that we need to see and that we need to understand clearly. If we are to be guided ourselves out of those times of spiritual darkness. In verses 19 and 20, note he is remembering But what is he remembering? Well, he's remembering his present circumstances, his present experiences. He's remembering this cage of darkness that he feels has entrapped him and surrounded him. If your present circumstances, like the poet's, are wormwood and gall and bitterness and darkness, what should you do? Well, if you choose in that moment to turn in on yourself, what will you find? More darkness, right? If you are enmeshed in darkness and you turn in on yourself, what can you find but more darkness? In fact, you'll only find darkness compounded. And so what instead does the poet do there in verse 21? Well, he recalls something other than his present circumstances. He recalls something from outside of the darkness. He remembers that there is a truth that as it were descends into the darkness like a lifeline and he lifts up his hand to take hold of it. Yes, the Lord is unchangeably holy in his anger towards sin, but the Lord is also unchangeably holy in his mercy toward repentant sinners. The Lord is merciful, he is compassionate, and there is no darkness so great that it cannot be overcome by turning to him and laying hold of him in his mercy and in his compassion. But notice how conscious and deliberate he is about it in verse 21. When you're surrounded by darkness, you have a choice. You can turn in on yourself. You can lose yourself in the darkness and you can harden yourself against God and curse him. As Job's wife said, right? curse God and die. That was her counsel in Job's darkness, and Job could have followed it. He did not, of course, and he did not along the same lines that we see here in Lamentations chapter 3. He chose by faith not to lose himself in the darkness, but to grab hold of the light of God's mercy and compassion. For if we died with him, we shall also live with him. If we endure, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful. He cannot deny himself. You can ignore the reality of God's mercy, but it doesn't change who he is. The light of his mercy is always there. His mercies are new every morning. I don't despise having to compete with the birds this morning because they remind us that God's mercies are new. He is unchangeable in his mercy and in his compassion and in his faithfulness. And the third chapter of the book of Lamentations calls to us to see the fullness of God's mercy and compassion, to know Him and to seek Him and to call upon Him as He is in Jesus Christ, a God merciful, abounding in goodness and truth, long-suffering toward His people, the God who is very gracious toward us and who hears our cry when we lift our voices to Him. Now, verse 24, There is no darkness that can take away our hope when the Lord is our portion. Imagine a simple scene with me. You're sitting in your room and it's dark and it's getting darker and darker by the minute. And that darkness grows and grows to the point where it threatens the peace of your mind and your heart. Well, if you're sitting in the darkness of your room, what do you do? You get up, you walk over to the wall, and you turn on the light. That's exactly what we find the poet doing here in verses 21 and following. He is consciously, deliberately, and resolutely getting up and walking to the wall and flipping on the light switch. And I wonder if that's the encouragement that you need this morning. You're sitting in darkness and the despair is growing and you've forgotten that God's mercy and compassion is there to be called upon, to be trusted in, to be grabbed hold of in the darkness of your present circumstances. You're sitting in a room of spiritual darkness that threatens to overwhelm you. You've forgotten about the light of God's mercy. Remember also that it is always Satan's goal to blind God's people to this light. He is always and ever working in your life to that end. Now, he's fine with us remembering in a certain way, God's anger against sin. But you see, he wants us only to remember God's anger. And when we only remember God's anger, we begin to twist what it truly means. And he can work upon the bitterness of our hearts. And we can twist God's anger into something that it's not. Something like an oppressive or tyrannical vendetta. And when we view God's anger that way, Satan knows that we will never turn to him. God's anger against sin is not an oppressive or tyrannical vendetta. His anger is a righteous and a holy anger. It is altogether righteous and altogether holy. It is his holiness and his righteousness. It is his lordship over reality itself to establish right and wrong according to his own eternal perfections, such that fighting against his righteous anger, denying it or ignoring it or raging against it is foolishness and destruction. We see that at the end of our passage, don't we? Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass when the Lord has not commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed? Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? We rage against God's righteous and holy anger in our foolishness and to our destruction. But it's as soon as we begin seeing God's righteous anger as it truly is, that we thereby also see God's never failing compassion and faithfulness as it truly is as well. We can't see his mercy if we're shaking our fists at him in prideful and self-righteous anger. But if our hearts are humbled before him, to receive his anger against sin, to declare his judgments to be most righteous. It is from that vantage point of humility before him that we are thus enabled to see his mercy and to taste his mercy and to lay hold of Jesus Christ, who is himself the gospel of peace. And that is why our poet not only hopes but he also waits. Did you notice the connection of those two things in this passage? The connection between hoping in God and waiting for God. Verse 26, it is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Verse 29, let him sit alone and keep silent because God has laid it on him. Let him put his mouth in the dust. There may yet be hope. Here's one way to think about waiting for the Lord and hoping in him. Do you want reconciliation with God that you have manufactured in your own imagination that makes you feel good, but isn't real. It's just a figment. Or do you want reconciliation with God that he initiates, that he comes down to give in his grace, that he enters into, that he brings to pass, A reconciliation that no matter how painful the road may be, is nonetheless real and substantial. And not only real and substantial, but eternal. Something that the suffering of this world can never take away from you. If your desire is for the latter, as opposed to the former, then the call is clear. Wait upon the Lord. If you want to feel better more than you want God, then don't wait for him, right? The world has thousands of ways for you to feel better about yourself and to feel better now. And perhaps you will feel better for a time, for a time. But if you want God more than anything, if you have come to truly see and understand both your sinfulness and the darkness of your sin and the light of God's mercy, if you've come to taste and see that the Lord is good, then wait for Him. Wait for Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. Waiting for the Lord is the testimony of your soul that you want Him in truth and in sincerity and in reality. No counterfeits, no quick but short-lived and insufficient answers to the sin and suffering of life, no placebo. You want life eternal as it is found alone in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. You want the Lord Jesus for he alone is the light of the world. And in him alone is the fullness of life. Now what's the problem? Well, the problem is we're Americans and we don't want to wait. We want answers now. We want comfort and joy immediately. And so it is in the dark night of our soul that we must hear God's word calling us to a better way. Did you hear the poet calling to you this morning? It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone and keep quiet, because God has laid it on him. Let him put his mouth in the dust. There may yet be hope. let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him and be full of reproach. You know, we don't want to give our cheeks to anyone. We don't want to give ourselves over to any reproaches. But when it is the strike of the Lord, when it is the reproach of the Lord unto repentance and life, then brothers and sisters, let us give over the cheek willingly Let us wait for him in hope for the chastisement of the Lord is life and salvation. Here's the thing, in fleeing the Lord's strikes, you also flee his salvation. In fleeing the Lord's reproaches, you also flee his restoration. But in waiting for Him, in keeping silent before His face and in hoping in Him, you have the sure promise of salvation and life and glory in Jesus Christ. The Lord will not cast off forever. That's His promise to you as you wait for Him and as you hope in Him. The Lord will not cast off forever, though he causes grief, yet he will show compassion according to the multitudes of his mercy. And you may ask, but pastor, how long will I have to wait? I don't know. But I do know from God's word that at the end of your waiting, there is glory and peace and joy and comfort beyond anything you could have anticipated or hoped for. Because at the end of your waiting, you will see God. Remember what happened to Job, what his confession was at the end of his waiting. Lord, I heard about you with the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. And God's word assures you that he will sustain you as you wait. None who waits on the Lord will ever be ashamed. We'll sing that in a moment. As you wait on God, your enemies will not triumph over you, your sins will not overtake you, and the darkness will not be your end. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Now those are words that Jeremiah wrote in a letter to the captives of Babylon after the destruction of Jerusalem. Just as he is in the book of Lamentations, calling them to hope in God and to wait upon his mercy. and to trust in His grace and in His promise. God was not finished with His people then, and God is not finished with His people now. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, appears, you also will appear with Him in glory. And so turn on the light in the dark night of the soul. Remember his mercy and his compassion. And brothers and sisters, hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Countless multitudes of people say that they want God. but he who waits on the Lord proves it. Let's pray. Lord God in heaven, we do not want a lowercase g God who is but the figment of our imagination, an idol manufactured to suit our sinful needs and desires. We want the living God, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God who split the sea and led his people across on dry ground, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so let us wait for you. Let us taste and see that the Lord is good. Let us hope in your promise and let us wait upon your goodness. And we pray that you would sustain our souls, Father, as we wait upon our Savior. And may we live every day walking by faith and not by sight, laying hold of the light of your mercy and compassion, for your mercies are new every morning. And so when we find ourselves in darkness, turn our hearts to the light of Christ that we may be saved. Shine your face upon us that we may be saved. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.