Grace & Truth: Complaint, Lament, & Repentance
Pastor Kent Landhuis
THEME - God is near, God is listening, and God cares.
TEXT - Jeremiah 12:1-5
1. Why do the wicked prosper?
Jeremiah 12:1-4
Is God watching?
2. Why do God’s people suffer?
Jeremiah 15:5-21
Does God care?
3. Why me?
Jeremiah 20:7-18
Do I matter?
4. God is near, God is listening, and God cares.
Jeremiah 12:5
Complain
Lament
Repent
NEXT STEPS
1. Evaluate your relationship with God.
2. Be bold: Complain, lament, and repent.
GO DEEPER
God sees, God cares, You matter.
We long for control but, in reality, we control very little. (Almost nothing!) Trying to control life is exhausting.
When life spins out of control, we want to know if God sees it, if God cares about it, and if God cares about us.
2 Chronicles 16 is the last chapter about Asa, king of Judah. Sadly, though, this chapter stands in sharp contrast to chapters 14 and 15. Here we saw that God gave Asa “rest on every side” because of his dependence on the Lord. (God gave Asa victory in the face of a massive army.) God was clearly in control.
In chapter 16, when King Asa found himself in another conflict, he had a sudden and surprising shift in behavior. Instead of crying out to God as he had before, Asa tried to control the situation with his own effort. This did not go well for Asa or God’s people.
Asa lost faith and lost grip with three truths. He forgot that God saw his situation, God cared about his situation, and God cared about him. When facing trouble - and the urge to complain and grab for control - remember these three things.
Be honest with God and then trust God to draw near. Meditate on the promise of Psalm 34:18. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Whenever you realize that you are NOT in control. Stand on this promise and remember. God sees, and God cares, and you matter.