Lamentations 3:1 I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
If you were to look at the British monarchy of the last one hundred years, whom is the most beloved royal who has lived during that time? I think at the top of the list would be Princess Di. I believe one of the reasons that Diana was so beloved was not just because of her beauty, wealth, and a charmed life, but because of the perception of real, profound problems on her part and compassion from her to others with the same kinds of problems. In short, people can’t relate to a person without problems.
With whom do you get along better, someone you have been following on social media for five years or that same person when you meet them and find out they are shorter, heavier, and not quite as attractive as you thought they were? The truth is that we learn from people with problems. God would have you to learn from His truths and express that truth through your own life, through problems.
Jeremiah says in Lamentations 3:1, “I am the man who hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.” The beginning of the book says, “How doth the city sit solitary!” In chapter 1 we are talking about a city that is solitary and in chapter 3 we are talking about an individual who is desolate.
This chapter begins in the first person, “I.” Jeremiah is talking from personal experience. Then, in verse 22 he says, “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed.” So, Jeremiah is scaling what he has learned from God’s truth through his experience to people who have had the same experience. Jerusalem had been sacked and imprisoned by their enemies. Jeremiah had been sacked and imprisoned by God’s own people. He had suffered at the very hands of the people who were now suffering. It is the grace of God through Jeremiah that he would give help to such people, yet he did.
What did Jeremiah experience? In the first part of the chapter he talks about all that had happened to him. He says, “He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.” That is exactly what happened when Jeremiah found himself in the dungeon because he had spoken God’s truth to God’s people. He had experienced a lot of trouble.
II Corinthians 1 tells us that God is the “God of all comfort,” and that God comforts us in “all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” In other words, God allows trouble in our lives, and our experiences with those troubles help us be of comfort to others. People can’t relate to people who have no problems, but when you learn God’s truth from your problems, you can be a help to others.
So, Jeremiah experienced trouble. What did he learn? He learned hope. Verses 22 and following are literally full of hope. The Bible says, “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” Over and again he talks about hope, that man “should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.” Jeremiah learned hope in darkness.
What was Jeremiah’s solution? Jeremiah says, “Let us.” He is talking from experience to people who were experiencing what he himself had experienced. He says, “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.” We ought to take stock of where and who we are and what we are doing. Are we going the right direction? Let’s turn to God. Verse 41 says, “Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.” Jeremiah suggested testing our ways and turning to God.
In short, you may be in a quandary or have a problem. Well, “it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” God may have you under a yoke right now, but Jesus says, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” God gives grace to the humble.
Not everyone has the same experience or level of trouble. It seems some people have nothing but trouble. Others we perceive to have a charmed life, but even they have trouble. Now we cannot wring our hands wondering if we are going to face some calamity because we have had it so good, but whatever calamites or hardships we’ve experienced, we ought to learn from them as Jeremiah had and encourage others with what we have learned.