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Lamentations 3: 21-26, 31-33 and Romans 8: 35-39
IS LOVE ENOUGH?
The
11th
sermon in the summer series, “Sing Spiritually”
Of the nearly 500 hymns which this congregation sang in The Hymnal of
the former Evangelical United Brethren Church, the one which we, old EUB’s,
most wanted included in The United Methodist Hymnal was “Great Is Thy
Faithfulness.” It’s hymn #140.
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” was published in 1923 by a Methodist preacher,
Thomas Chisholm. He left the ministry due to ill health and went on to sell life
insurance. It was a logical move from offering God’s eternal life insurance to
the human kind. One place he sold insurance was in Vineland, NJ. Another
local connection was his retirement at the Methodist Home in Ocean Grove, NJ.
Mr. Chisholm composed 1200 sacred poems, his best-known being “Great Is Thy
Faithfulness.”
This popular hymn of hope and encouragement is based on the Old
Testament book, Lamentations. Comprised of five poems in five chapters, the
small volume is among the most distressing and depressing in the entire Bible. It
tells of a tragedy using graphic descriptions, such as: “searing”; “unspeakable
suffering”; “whirlpool of pain”; “maelstrom.” One can hear the “stinging cries for
help, voices begging to see God … protests to (a) God who hides.”1
Simultaneously, its eloquent portrayal is so accurate that Lamentations is
Kathleen M. O’Connor, “Lamentations” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 6, Nashville:
Abingdon, 2001, p. 1013.
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Lamentations 3: 21-26, 31-33 and Romans 8: 35-39
referred to as “a literary jewel and rich resource” where both communal pain
and personal suffering may be healed. Healed! Confronting and dealing with
suffering head on, not denying it, can lead to healing.
A brief history. --- When ancient Israel split in two, the northern kingdom
retained the name, Israel. The south took the name of Judah. Long after that
fateful division, northern neighboring Assyria invaded and wiped out Israel.
More than a century later, Judah met its demise at the hands of the Babylonians
from the west. Total devastation took the best and brightest Judeans into
faraway exile after levelling the capital city of Jerusalem and its temple, the
Hebrew center of political, religious, and cultural life. The dregs of that society
which were left behind encountered famine, as well as social and economic
collapse. Terrible!
One way for us to grasp Judah’s ruin is through a Hollywood portrayal of
some apocalyptic event destroying civilization by nuclear war, obliteration of
the electrical grid, pandemic disease, or fictitious alien invasion and all of the
social, medical, and economic horrors attendant upon such annihilation.
The wonder of Lamentations, though, does not tie it only to the Hebrews’
hardship. The book is a metaphor for all types of human suffering. It speaks to
anyone who is utterly hopeless and foresees only the worst.
The book is named “Lamentations.” Its original Hebrew title was the “Book
of How,” - not “how to”, but “How can I be addressing such horrors?” Or, “God,
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Lamentations 3: 21-26, 31-33 and Romans 8: 35-39
how did this ever happen?” Or, a just plain and completely bewildered,
“How?”
What’s the worst thing you can imagine happening to you? A terrorist
attack that changes how we live, if we live? A cancer diagnosis? Debilitating
brain trauma or a crippling, deforming injury? A brutal assault on you or loved
ones? A death? What is that ultimate tragedy for you?
I think you’ll agree: We live pretty darned good lives. The majority of us
live with our needs satisfied: comfortable homes with loving families; so much
food that our cupboards and refrigerators look like they contain a Thanksgiving
feast every day; clothes filling walk-in closets and chests of drawers; good
health.
With those situations secure, we often want more, especially when it
comes to creature comforts. For example: the options on our last car become
“needed” standards on the next car we purchase. Right? Upgrade! We have
jobs that pay the monthly bills, retirement plans that pay the future bills, and
insurance plans to pay the unexpected bills. We have a whole lot and expect a
whole lot, especially from God…a god whom some persons figure they don’t
really need most days. So many folks consider themselves self-sufficient.
“Ah, the only thing I need God for is the really bad stuff. I’ve got the rest
covered, myself. I only need God in truly bad times. If God doesn’t come
through then, mind you, I’m going to be thoroughly hacked off! What’s religion
for, if not an insurance policy that pays off when I can’t manage a disaster!?!”
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Lamentations 3: 21-26, 31-33 and Romans 8: 35-39
A lethal combination of our consumer culture and the prosperity gospel
has caused us to expect a lot from God, even more than God promises. For too
many of us, God is a religious form of a genie, a personalized Disney-esque fairy
godmother/father who caters to our every wish and makes them all come true.
“Alacazoolah michicaboolah!” And if they don’t happen with the wave of the
magic wand, then one complains that God is a farce, a liar, a fantasy, a myth
without Truth and existence. Bibbity bobbity BOO!
Complaining, however, is understandable … when there is genuine
reason. A lamentation is, by definition, a complaint, a protest, but also a search
for meaning. When our life’s dream becomes a genuine nightmare, our upset is
normal. We can question and doubt. It’s even acceptable to confront God by
yelling and becoming angry. God has broad shoulders.
The truth is: God does not guarantee us blessings. The only thing God
promises to each one of us is love. Is that enough? Is God’s love enough or do
we demand more?
Think about the person whose family member is a doctor – maybe the
world’s greatest doctor with the best record ever for healing patients. What if
that physician family member does not heal you? What if that beloved doctor
says: “Mom/Dad/Sis/Bro/Son/Daughter. We’re in this together, though, and I’m
just devastated. Healing isn’t happening. That being said, my love for you has
never been greater.” Is that love enough? You thought the doctor, your family
member, would heal you because s/he healed so many other people. You took
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for granted that things would get better. You expected healing – complete,
total, 100% healing. What you got was love – only love. Is love enough?
The diverse voices in this little book of the Bible express that the absolute
worst has happened to them. They question and doubt their faith, as do we,
sometimes. The truth is, what makes God God is that God remains faithful, even
when we do not. Great is Thy faithfulness -- where faithfulness equals love.
Lamentation’s definition of mercy is not an end to the suffering, not a
cessation of pain, not a magical cure or turn-around of life’s fortunes. God’s
Providence is not only linked to physical and material blessings, as we often
believe. God’s Providence is a steadfast love that never ceases. Mercy is God’s
eternal love amid the pain and suffering and complaining and doubts and
anger. You may have nothing, except God’s love. Is it enough?
When we know God is faithful toward us, that God is loving, we are blest.
Therein resides hope. That hope is not blind. It is not mere wish-fulfillment. It is
not a denial of reality with a don’t-worry-be-happy-attitude. It is not a delusion...
but it is a decision. Our well-placed hope is a truly wise decision supported by a
loving God whose hopes for us are made real by always, always loving us.
In the Name….
Copyright 2015 by G. D. Knerr at Lansdale, Pa. All rights reserved.
Alternate title/idea: The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love.”
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