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"God's Mercy Never Fails" Lamentations 3:17-33

by Clancy Nixon

July 2, 2006

Church of the Holy Spirit

Ashburn, Virginia

www.holyspiritanglican.org

Little Armand from Armenia knows God's mercy never fails. In 1988, Samuel

sent his young son, Armand, off to school. Samuel squatted before his son and looked

him in the eye. "Have a good day at school, and remember, no matter what, I'll always be

there for you." They hugged and the boy ran off to school. Hours later, a powerful

earthquake rocked the area. The radio announced that there were thousands of casualties

we now know that over 35,000 perished in that Armenian quake. Samuel ran for the

schoolyard. When he arrived, what he saw brought tears to his eyes. Armand's school

was a pile of debris. Other parents were standing there, crying.

Samuel found the place where Armand's classroom used to be and began pulling

a broken beam off the pile of rubble. He then grabbed a rock and put it to the side, and

then grabbed another one. One of the parents looking on asked, "What are you doing?"

"Digging for my son," Samuel answered. The man then said, "You're just going to make

things worse! The building is unstable," and tried to pull Samuel away from his work.

Samuel set his jaw and kept working. As time wore on, one by one, the other parents left.

Samuel kept digging.

All through the night and into the next day, Samuel continued digging. Parents

placed flowers and pictures of their children on the ruins. But, Samuel just kept working.

He picked up a beam and pushed it out of the way when he heard a faint cry. "Help!

Help!" Samuel shouted, "Armand?" He heard a muffled voice, "Papa?"

Samuel began to dig furiously. Finally he could see his son. "Come on out, son!"

he said with relief. "No," Armand said. "Let the other kids come out first because I know

you'll get me." Child after child emerged until, finally, little Armand appeared. Samuel

wrapped him in his arms and Armand said, "I told the other kids not to worry because

you told me that you'd always be there for me!" Fourteen children were saved that day

because one father was merciful and faithful. (source unknown)

Friends, how much more merciful is our heavenly Father! No matter what sort of

pickle we find ourselves in, we are never cut off from God's mercy. Whether the rescue

comes soon or late by our lights, God is true to His character. His love for you is so great

that he persistently digs through the rubble of your life to rescue you from the

consequences of your sin and from fallen Creation. You can count on God. God's mercy

never fails. Say that with me: God's mercy never fails. Turn with me to page 816-17 of

your blue pew Bible, to Lamentations 3:17-33.

Verse 22 says, "Because of the Lord's mercy we are not consumed, because His

compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

When Jeremiah wrote these words, his nation, the Kingdom of Judah, was far

away from God. They didn't repent when the northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the

Assyrians years before. Judah became contaminated through idolatry the nation

condoned the ritual prostitution of the religion of Ba'al and Ashtoreth. God warned His

people through his prophets time and again, yet they would not heed. So judgment finally

came. Jeremiah's lamentation is for Jerusalem's destruction by the Babylonians in 586

B.C. Notice that Jeremiah does not attempt to minimize the tragedy of what has

happened. There is no attempt to disguise the sorrow and the pain the author feels at

seeing the city devastated, the people dead and dying, mothers desperate to feed their

babies. There is no attempt to put on a happy face. There is no attempt to accuse God or

to defend God over what happened. In the Lament, what Jeremiah does is real, it is right,

it honors God. We need to grieve our losses. But the tragedy that was Jerusalem is not

the end of the story. For those who believe in God, tragedy is never the end of the story,

because God's mercy never fails.

In the middle of the book of Lamentations, this book of anguish and grief, a bright

ray of hope pierces this dark thunderhead like a lightning bolt. Jeremiah tells us that

although the nation of Judah deserved what it got and really deserved much worse, he

said, "Because of the Lord's mercy we are not consumed, because His compassions never

fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22)

The history of man is a dismal record of failure. Even though they were given the

perfect environment in the Garden of Eden, the first couple failed, and it didn't get any

better later on. Some say that if we make our environment better, we will get better, and

there is some truth in that. The Bible says it is not man's environment that is the problem

- it is man himself. Selfishness is the default mode of man especially of unregenerate,

unsanctified people. No amount of material or scientific progress has changed human

nature over time.

There is hope for the future, but unlike John Lennon, I don't "have to admit that

it's getting better a little better - all the time! Can't get no worse." Some things do get

better but other things get worse. Look at television the acuity of the picture got

much better in my lifetime. To rephrase Martin Luther King Jr., the character of the

content on T.V. has got much worse! Many things in life fail. Enron and MCI

Worldcom failed. Marriages fail all too often. England and even mighty Brazil failed in

the World Cup yesterday. Governments and politicians fail. Jeremiah witnessed the

failure of his government, of Temple worship since it was burned down, of his entire

culture. Today, we are witnessing the unfolding unraveling of the Episcopal Church and

Anglican Communion. Church structures fail. The good news is, let's say it together,

"God's mercy never fails!" As believers, our hope is in God, in his character, his merciful

nature, not in anything man can do. Amen?

What is God's mercy? What does it really mean? Matthew 9:13 tells us that Jesus

says, "Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy not sacrifice." We need to learn this.

The word mercy in the Old Testament is a translation of the word Hhesed which means

an eager and ardent desire to show goodness to someone, to fulfill needs, and to bring life

forever. Whenever you see the words "loving-kindness," or "steadfast love," or mercy in

the Old Testament, they are all translations of the Hebrew word Hhesed, and can all be

read as "Mercy." Mercy is not a narrow concept meaning being acquitted of a crime it

is an expansive concept, meaning showering love. Mercy is closely connected to love

it is showing love to someone, to will their highest good. Mercy requires action

whether prayer, or washing feet, or digging through rubble to rescue your son.

Rex Andrews says that mercy is how God's heart works; it's how love gets feet.

Exodus 34:6-7: "The LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger,

abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving

wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the wicked unpunished." God is

love; and God shows his love primarily through acts of mercy. Don't be deceived: God's

mercy does not imply some kind of blanket amnesty; it is a tough love that calls us to

repent. Every loving parent knows that if a child does not repent, then it is the loving

thing to do to point out and punish that child's sin, so that the pain of his sin is

heightened, leading to repentance. So it is with our loving Heavenly Father. When I came

back to Christ in my mid twenties after a long hiatus in the world, my friends in the

church did not call me on some worldly habits I had picked up. That was not merciful of

them; it was a failure of nerve. If we do not humbly approach brothers and sisters we

know on their open sin, and exhort them to turn form it, we are not showing them mercy.

We are encouraging them by our denial or silence to avoid the one path that will lead to

God's mercy, and that is repentance. That is what Judah failed to do in 586 B.C., and it is

why they tasted God's judgment. As Jeremiah says in Lamentations 3:33, "For God does

not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men." It is God's will to bless you

and prosper you, which He will do if you obey him. Let's not blame God for the sins of

others or our own sins. The quickest path to God's mercy is to repent. Let's say it again:

God's mercy never fails.

This is true even when the circumstances look bad. God is good, all the time. All

the time, God is good. We like to say that in church, but the problem is, many of us don't

really believe that. Bill Johnson says that it would revolutionize the church if we really

believed this! If we don't believe that God is good, how can we expect a watching world

to believe it? Church, we need to meditate on, stand in the goodness of God, in the

mercy of God. John Lennon sang, "It can't get no worse." That's either a fantasy or a

lie.Our teenagers going to Uganda will discover that much of what we take for granted is

really a gift of mercy. Look at Jeremiah standing in the smoking ruins of a sacked city. I

imagine that it caused Jeremiah to question God's goodness. I can't say I blame him. In

3:19, he remembers his affliction and his wandering, the bitterness and the gall, and his

soul is downcast. Then Jeremiah breaks out of that cycle of despair, verse 21, by calling

to mind the truth about God, that God's mercy never fails. It's an act of the will to change

your focus when you are caught in despair. Yes, it is good to grieve. No, it's not good to

remain stuck in grief. Remember the mercies of the Lord to you! I believe that when we

get to Heaven, we will realize that every loss we have experienced will be seen as a

bruise that healed; every loss was temporary; every victory we had was eternal. God has a

plan for us to grow in Kingdom authority through painful experience. The place of

weakness, the bone that was broken, the place we are scarred becomes the place where

we often have the greatest Kingdom authority. Because I grew up in a secular home, far

from God, I have a heart and anointing to reach secular people with the gospel.

You may ask, how much mercy are we to give others? We are to give as much as

we need for ourselves! Do you see your own need of mercy? We all need others to show

goodness to us, to meet our needs, to help bring us to life, not death. When you see your

own need, it is easy to use the golden rule. Don't point the finger of judgment; instead,

pray for the person who is easy to criticize, that his needs will be met in Christ. When we

pray that people will be flooded with God's mercy, then we begin to get God's heart for

them. This is the law of sowing and reaping. We reap what we sow. As we give mercy to

others, then we will receive mercy from others. Jesus said as much in the Beatitudes,

when he said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy."

In Victor Hugo's book Les Miserables, Jean Valjean is an ex-convict recently

released from prison. He was treated cruelly by others, but comes to the home of a

Bishop. To his surprise, the bishop welcomes him warmly, inviting him to share his

supper, and finally offering him a bed for the night. He treats Valjean with unfailing

courtesy and ignores the stigma of his past. When he was twenty-six years old, Valjean

was condemned to a five-year jail term for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his widowed

sister and her large family. In jail, Valjean was treated cruelly and so learned to hate

society. Rising stealthily in the middle of the night, the ex-convict steals his host's silver.

The police, however, catch him when he is making his escape and bring him back to the

bishop. This time his crime will bring him life imprisonment. However, the Bishop not

only pretends that the silver is a legitimate gift, he also gives Valjean his only possession

his silver candlesticks, saying, "Friend, you forgot to take these as well. That encounter

with God's mercy changed Valjean's life. It is kindness that leads to repentance.

Oh, how we need God's mercy! Ephesians 2:4 says, "Because of his great love

for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ when we were dead in

transgressions it is by grace you have been saved." This is the reason we are in such

desperate need of God's mercy. We know we are sinners saved by grace. This mercy, this

grace of God was shown chiefly on the cross of Christ. Like little Armand in Armenia,

we were buried in our sins, as good as dead. Jesus stayed with the work through to

completion, digging through the rubble of our lives to find us and save us, dying on the

cross to set us free. God's mercy never fails. It does not fail for anyone who repents and

calls upon his name. God's mercy is available to all.

Do you need God's mercy today? Let's pray to receive it.

In Victor Hugo's book Les Miserables, Jean

Valjean is an ex-convict recently released from

prison. He was treated cruelly by others, but comes to

the home of a Bishop. To his surprise, the bishop

welcomes him warmly, inviting him to share his

supper, and finally offering him a bed for the night.

He treats Valjean with unfailing courtesy and ignores

the stigma of his past. When he was twenty-six years

old, Valjean was condemned to a five-year jail term

for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his widowed sister

and her large family. In jail, Valjean was treated

cruelly and so learned to hate society. Rising

stealthily in the middle of the night, the ex-convict

steals his host's silver. The police, however, catch

him when he is making his escape and bring him

back to the bishop. This time his crime will bring him

life imprisonment. However, the Bishop not only

pretends that the silver is a legitimate gift, he also

gives Valjean his only possession his silver

candlesticks, saying, "Friend, you forgot to take these

as well. That encounter with God's mercy changed

Valjean's life.