“Hope is the Lord’s Truth”

Scripture: Jeremiah 29:10-14; Lamentations 3:20-33

The word “hope” has little significance in this world. It offers us no certainty, it brings little expectation, it is, at best, indecisive in its nature, and yet, how many times do we hear folks confidently proclaim “I hope so!” even while wanting, but not certain, that it “should be”! The truth is that earth’s “hope” is little more than an expressed desire for something that we fear may never be.

But the “hope” that our Lord offers is totally different than the world’s version. God’s hope is a promise – it’s a promise that has the power and authority of eternal and infinite wisdom behind it. When God offers his people hope, it can be trusted, it becomes our reality.

Read Jeremiah 29:10-14

In the first verse of this passage, the Lord refers to our years in Babylon, and in the last verse, he promises that he will gather us together and “will bring us back to the place from which [he] carried us into exile.” Babylon, for Israel, was the place of exile from God’s presence, and the place that they left behind was the Land of Promise – the covenantal home that was promised to them for eternity.

For the Church, Babylon is nothing more than the life we have right here – our exile is the earthly life that we are living, separated from our Almighty God by sin. And the place that he will come and take us to is our eternal home – the heavenly home that we will inherit as children of our eternal God. (John 14:1-7) And not only is there an incredible home waiting for us, we have a heavenly plan at our disposal. It has already been created for us, it is in motion within our life, and it is right here and right now.
And what a plan it is! It is one of prosperity – in the heavenly sense, of course, not the worldly one – and it is one that not only will never harm us, it is be a plan of hope for now and always. And the Lord tells us, through the prophet, that when we come to the realization of just what this plan can be for our lives, we will come to know just how much the Lord loves us. But if you are thinking that this is referring to the plan for our salvation, it is far more – it is the plan for all that we will do and learn in ministry, in mission, in outreach to the lost, for all that we will do in love and in the name of the Lord! And as we begin to live out this plan for our lives, it will lead us to turn to the Lord, where we will seek his grace, and where we will discover that his presence and promise has been with us since before we were born.

And in this “hope”, in this promise that is given to all who have claimed his plan, they will all be brought together and will be saved from their captivity in this life. His nation, his people, those who love him and his word, will become one in the Lord’s Land of Promise.

Read Lamentations 3:20-24

The Book of Lamentations is also credited to Jeremiah, and is believed to have been written shortly after the Southern Kingdom was taken into captivity by the Babylonians. It is a book of reflection on how they had come to be in this predicament, it is a book to remind the people just what they can expect when they disobey God’s commandments, and it is a book that proclaims the fact that the Lord takes no joy or satisfaction in the suffering of his people – that he only wants the best for them, and his heart breaks when they are living in sorrow and pain and separation from him. But that is always our choice, and not God’s.

In our passage for today, the prophet is remembering all that he had given up, and all that he was now going through, as he suffered for the sins he has committed against his Lord God Jehovah. But even in his suffering, he knows that he has cause to rejoice over the hope that will never be taken from him! (Romans 5:1-5) In verse 22, we read “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.” The goodness that is found in the hope of Almighty God will never fail, will never be withdrawn, will never break, will never disappear from our lives! If you have ever heard someone say that they have done something that God can never forgive, tell them that it’s a fallacy – that there is nothing that God can’t forgive, and there is nothing that he doesn’t want to forgive – if we will only give our wayward life over to him.

And the Lord’s plan for our lives is never static and it’s never boring – the prophet says that it is new every day. For some, that may be a bit frightening, but it should be exciting for us. Imagine this life being filled with variety, having a surprise waiting for us around every corner, revealing a new victory, a new blessing for us every time we follow his way and plan! How could this life get any better than that?

Read Lamentations 3:25-30

It seems that not only is the Lord’s hope in us, but we are to place our hope in him! In our walk with God, our hope is no longer a desire, but it becomes a fulfilled relationship that is just as certain as his promise is for us. We become yoked with the Lord in this relationship, and that is a good thing. A yoke means that we share our load and our burdens with the Lord, and when we are weak, his power and strength picks up all that we are unable to handle, but when we are strong, he allows us to grow and become even stronger in our life together! This relationship becomes a partnership that goes far beyond anything that the world will ever create or can ever imagine.

But in those times when we fail in faith, when we decide that the pleasures and half truths of earth are far more preferable than the truth of God, when we discover that our way never comes close to working to our benefit, the prophet advises us to quietly submit our lives to the Lord, to repent in the dust of our failed lives, and to seek the Lord’s hope once again. And when the sins of others oppress us, we are to humbly submit to the attack, we refrain from retaliating, from getting even, from responding in the way that the people of the world do.

This is the example of Jesus Christ. Think about it! The Lord of all creation, the Messiah, the Savior of the earth, King of kings and Lord of lords, came to earth, not in glory, not in power, not in authority, but in dependence without glory, in humility without power, in subjugation without authority. Jesus, the almighty glory of heaven, entered this life just as you and I do – as newborn infants, at the mercy of the world’s fragile existence, and in the love and hope of a human mother. He brought the truth of God into our lives, and yet, never demanded that we accept it. He brought hope and life for those who will believe, and he suffered hatred, pain and death at the hands of those who refused to believe.

This is who our God truly is!

Read Lamentations 3:31-33

The greatest Hope of the Lord may be that we will never be set aside forever. But that doesn’t mean that there won’t be an “exile” from grace when we sin. Remember the story of Hosea and his unfaithful wife Gomer?

The Lord told the prophet that he must marry an adulterous woman, and that he would have children who were also unfaithful, all as a symbol of the unfaithfulness of the people Israel. (Hosea 1-2) Gomer would leave the life that her husband Hosea offered her, and would seek the love and support of other men, which would be a failure in every way. Israel would take this same track in life, and it would fail them, too. They would turn against their Jehovah God, be defeated by their enemies of earth, and would be taken into exile. And it would be 70 years before Judah would be allowed to return to their home.

But they would return, and Gomer would also be reunited with her husband Hosea. He would buy her back from her slavery to others, and she would be charged to never wander from their relationship again. (Hosea 3)

We have been bought back from our unfaithfulness, too, and the cost was completely paid for by God Himself, and that cost was excessive. Christ, the Son of God, left his glory behind, and accepted the lower position as our servant. He gave up the might and authority and respect and love that he so well deserved, and in return, submitted himself to the lies and mistrust and ignorance of earth, he suffered the world’s attacks on his nature and his ways, he was subjected to a deceitful trial, a false conviction, brutal beatings, humiliation, and the most horrid death ever devised by man.

The cost of our salvation, our being brought back into the Hope and Life of Almighty God, was the taking of the conviction, the punishment, the death that we deserved, and in its place, we were offered the eternal life, the glorious hope, the grace and glory of our Lord and Savior.

The Hope of God has become our Life. May we never wander from its blessing.