In 1488, the Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Diaz became the first European to navigate around the southern tip of Africa, where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. And because of the danger and difficulty of the journey, Diaz named the Cape the Cape of Storms. However, the Cape was renamed the Cape of Good Hope by King John II of Portugal because of the opportunity that was provided with a trade route between Europe and India. And though it remains a treacherous area for any seafaring ship to this day, it is still called the Cape of Good Hope. One cape with two names. One name reflects the difficulty of the journey while the other reflects the hope of the destination. And in this, we learn that our perspective helps determine what we see. And what we see in the passage before us in the book of Lamentations is that our perspective changes when we focus not on our circumstances, but on our God. When we focus not on the difficulty of the journey, but on the hope of the destination. The title Lamentations quite literally means the laments. These are the laments. These are the hard cries of Jeremiah after destruction came. The very destruction that he himself had foretold of when the Babylonians came and destroyed the southern kingdom of Judah, the city of Jerusalem, and the center of their worship in the temple. In chapters one and two of Lamentations, Jeremiah wrote from the perspective of the people of Jerusalem. But here in chapter three, we see a transition take place as Jeremiah speaks from his own experiences, as he witnessed the devastating destruction that fell upon the city and the temple that he loved. If you still have your Bibles open, look with me if you would at the way chapter three begins. There Jeremiah wrote, I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his, that is God's wrath. He has driven and brought me into darkness without any light. Surely against me, he turns his hand again and again the whole day long." Notice that Jeremiah acknowledged that God had done this, that this was the prophecy that he had been given by God, and this was the judgment that God had promised would come. And now the destruction had come to fruition, and for Jeremiah, it was even beyond what he had expected. Even though he knew it was coming, he still has this visceral reaction to the reality of God's prophetic promise. If we drop down to verse 15, we read on, he, and again, that is referring to God, he has filled me with bitterness. He has sated me or filled me with wormwood. He has made my teeth grind on gravel and made me cower in ashes. My soul is bereaved or grieved of peace. Jeremiah gave this explicit and detailed description of his internal reaction to all that he has seen and experienced. And just listen to this level of honesty as we read on, I have forgotten what happiness is. So I say my endurance has perished, so has my hope from the Lord. Now just let those words strike you and soak into your soul for a moment. Jeremiah has said that his peace is, he's grieving his peace, that his peace has died. and that he has forgotten what happiness is. His circumstances were so overwhelming that he had forgotten what happiness is. Happiness seemed more like a fanciful dream compared to the nightmarish reality that was before him. He was experiencing the immensity and the intensity of what had unfolded not only around him but within him. This one commentator wrote, there is a difference though between lamentations before God and anger toward God. Lamentation means that we are honest about our pain and confusion, but anger toward God is a mortal judgment where we claim that God has somehow done us wrong or been unjust. It is blasphemous judgment to be angry with God. but to lament means to pour out our heart and to pour out our struggles before the Lord. And that's exactly what Jeremiah does in our text. And as a follower of Christ, do you realize this morning that one of the greatest gifts that you have been given is that you too can come before the Lord with such honesty and vulnerability and pour out all your pain and all your confusion before him? There is a level of raw honesty and intimacy with God that allows Jeremiah and you and me to come before Him when we too experience being overwhelmed and confused by the circumstances of life. As one writer put it, laments are not cul-de-sacs of sorrow, they are conduits for renewed faith. And that is exactly what you and I will see in the evolution of Jeremiah's perspective in a passage that begins with, I am a man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath. And yet with the same level of intimacy and honesty is able to come out on the other side and write, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. The truth is we can't get to the mountaintop of the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases until and unless we've humbly walked through the valley of I am the man who has seen affliction. When you and I are struggling, we will only offer superficial praise unless we have first offered sincere lamentations. And so the question you and I must ask of the text this morning is this. So how do we get there? What does that practically look like for God's people? That's what Jeremiah reveals to us at the beginning of our passage as we listen in as he first speaks to the world. Let me ask you, have you ever been in one of those seasons in your life where you seem so overwhelmed by something that it seems to consume all of your thoughts? You wake up in the morning and it's the first thing that comes to mind, or perhaps it awakens you even before your alarm clock rings. It's the hamster on the hamster wheel of your mind that reminds you over and over again as your day begins. And so you try to counter that by busying yourself with chores and work and school and recreation. And as evening falls and the busyness of the day begins to fade, you find those consuming thoughts returning. And so you try to distract yourself. You pick up a book, you turn on the TV, or you get on social media. And though they may distract you for a time, inevitably the book is put down and the screen is turned off, and those consuming thoughts bombard you once again. You may be physically exhausted, but your mind and heart will not allow you to rest. And even though you do fall asleep eventually, you find such thoughts consuming your dreams and waking you up in the middle of the night. Has it ever felt like your mind and your heart are betraying you and just won't let you forget something? Continually calling to mind what is weighing so heavy upon you. Well, understand that is exactly what Jeremiah was experiencing and writing as we pick up in verse 19. Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall. My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Jeremiah was burdened and discouraged. There was an urgency and an intensity to life. And it was as if his own mind and heart and soul were working against him. And he was never settled and he was never at peace. They were like the toddler who wants something from mom or dad and continues to ask and pulls at the pant leg until they get their attention and only seem to get louder and more persistent if ignored. There was a battle going on within Jeremiah. He was being bombarded from within with all these unending thoughts and feelings and reminders and what ifs that overwhelmed and exhausted him. And so let me ask you personally this morning, can you relate to Jeremiah? Have you ever been in his shoes? Are you perhaps experiencing the very same battles going on within your own soul right now? That sense where it seems like you are your own worst enemy and you can't find rest or peace of mind and you find yourself overwhelmed and exhausted. I'm guessing that at least some of us here this morning can relate to Jeremiah. So how did Jeremiah combat and defend himself from this bombardment from within? Well, what do we read in verse 21? He writes, but this I call to mind and therefore I have hope. Let's just stop right there for a moment. Notice that Jeremiah deliberately and willfully called this to mind. In other words, this was an act of his will. It was not something that would naturally happen on its own. He would not wait until he felt like it. Now he took an active step and made the choice to change his focus and perspective. So what is the this that he called to mind? Well, what do we read on in verse 22? The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. As Jeremiah looked at the city around him and saw no more walls and no more temple, as he heard the cries of mothers who had been separated from their children, as he smelled the charred remains of homes and businesses, There was nothing that would have reminded him of these realities. Yet he willfully calls these realities and truths to mind. And the first thing he called to mind was the steadfast love of the Lord. Nothing around him would have told him about that. But he could only call this to mind because it was something he had been taught in good times so that it could sustain him in these bad times. And that is, by the way, why we too need to continually sit under the teaching of God's word, where your heart and mine are continually reminded of God's steadfast love. Now, the Hebrew word for steadfast is kesed. Kesed is God's covenant love. It is his loyal love toward his people. It is a love that is not built upon emotions, but upon promises. It is a love that never ceases and it never changes. And there is great comfort found in being reminded of God's steadfast love, because it is not based on your circumstances, and it's not even based on you. It's based on the very character of God. That means that if you're a Christian here this morning, there has never been a time when God did not love you, nor will there ever be a time when he will stop loving you. It also means that he has never loved you less and he will never love you more because he has always loved you with a perfect love. Now you may not have always been aware of his love because your heart was dead in your sins and trespasses until the Holy Spirit awakened and enlivened you to the love of Christ. And there may be times when it seems hidden to you because of circumstances as it was for Jeremiah. But that does not mean that God's love for you has waned in any way. And don't you allow the evil one to get a foothold to tell you otherwise. The steadfast love of the Lord never, hear that, never ceases. It cannot, it will not end ever. That is what Jeremiah deliberately reminded himself of in the midst of all that was going on. Now let me ask your heart. Do you need to be reminded of that this morning? In the midst of all that you are going on in your own life? Jeremiah went on to remind himself that the Lord's mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning. Now, for the original reader, they would have gotten the reference that Jeremiah was making. Just as the Israelites in the wilderness received manna falling from heaven that would sustain them for each day and came new to them every morning, Jeremiah is saying that God's mercies come to us each and every day. Just like the Israelites were instructed not to collect more than they needed for that day, but were to trust that God would provide for them the next day. So too you and I do not lean on yesterday's blessings to sustain us for today. Rather we trust that God's mercies will meet us today and tomorrow and every day thereafter. Now mercy by definition is where we do not get what we deserve. And we don't always like to hold in our minds what we truly deserve. We'd rather focus on what we believe we're entitled to in this life. And when our focus is on our presumed entitlements, we are often let down and grow ungrateful. But when we focus on what we deserve as rebellious sinners, and yet what we receive as for redeemed sons and daughters, it's not hard to find that Jeremiah's words are true. And notice that God's mercies are new every morning and yet they are constant. It is like a river flowing from an unending stream. health, family, jobs, money, possessions, earthly comforts, and consistencies may be gone by the time tomorrow comes. But do you realize what will meet you tomorrow is God's unending mercy to you? God's mercies will freshly fall upon you each and every day. This is why anxiety and worry can be so debilitating in the Christian life. You see, they seek to blot out what God has already done and cause us to question his faithfulness on that which has not even taken place yet. Worry and anxiety want us to forget his mercies that were new yesterday and blind us to the mercies that will be new tomorrow morning. Jesus said in Matthew 6, verses 31 through 34, therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things." Did you hear that? Not some of these things, not most of these things, but all these things will be added unto you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow. Instead of worrying, we, like Jeremiah, are called to deliberately focus on the fact that God's steadfast love, fresh grace, and new mercies will meet us every single morning. Jeremiah willfully and deliberately spoke to his heart, his mind, his soul, and even his senses that were screaming at him and were saying, well, did you see that? Did you hear that? What's gonna happen next? What are we gonna do? What else could possibly go wrong? Did you hear what so-and-so said? Did you see what so-and-so posted? What if this happens? What if that happens? As they played all the worst case scenarios that could have possibly taken place. And notice that Jeremiah does not deny reality of all that has taken place or all that might take place. He was not burying his head in the sand, and neither should we. He was simply saying, all of that may be true, but this is also true about God. I may not see how or where they intersect or know all the details, how everything is gonna work out, but I do know that they do intersect. I do know that God will work for the good of his people. He will hold me fast. What you and I must understand this morning is that acknowledging one truth does not mean that I have to forfeit something else that's also true. One truth does not cancel out another truth just because I cannot see from my limited perspective how they could possibly fit together. And when faced with two truths, which one is gonna hold your focus? Which one is going to shape your perspective? Will it be the steadfast love of the Lord that never ceases and his mercies that are new each and every morning? Or will it be something else? If your life was a cape, would it be named the Cape of Storms or the Cape of Good Hope? Same treacherous storms come but are you going to focus on the difficulty of the journey or on the hope of the destination? Which one will it be for you? Which one will it be for me? As you and I read on, Jeremiah changes his audience from speaking to the world to speaking to God. As we read on in the remainder of verse 23, He writes, great is your faithfulness. Did you see that change? No longer was he speaking about God as he was earlier. Now, with fresh reminders of God's heart and character in mind, he turned to God and said, great is your faithfulness. Now, Jeremiah said this to God, not because God needed to be reminded, but because Jeremiah's confusion about God was beginning to give way to clarity. No longer was his focus on his circumstances that surrounded him. It was on the God who was with him in the circumstances that surrounded him. Jeremiah was beginning to see that he was not alone, that he had not been abandoned, he had not been forsaken. All that he saw in the immediate was not an indicator of eternity. And his present circumstances were not the end of God's story. And here's the thing, Jeremiah already knew that. You see, the very same Jeremiah who penned our text also penned the words of the book that bears his name and wrote these words in the 29th chapter. For thus says the Lord, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord. And I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord. And I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. And so with the reminders of God's steadfast love and unending mercy before him, he considers the promises of God and simply says, great is your faithfulness. You said it, you'll accomplish it. I may not know the how, but I do know the who. You see, to say that someone is faithful means they are immovable, trustworthy, and dependable. Faithfulness is an absolute and objective characteristic, meaning what do you call a husband who is only faithful 99% of the time? Unfaithful. So to say that God is faithful is to assure that he is faithful 100% of the time and therefore can be trusted. But don't misinterpret these words. Don't read an emotion onto the text that's not there. There is nothing in the text that would lead us to believe that these words were spoken with jubilant happiness and joyful exaltation. These words very well may have been spoke to the Lord with tears streaming down his face and a lump in his throat and an ache in his soul and may have been no stronger than a whisper. Lord, I'm going to trust in the immovability of your faithfulness, even when everything around me seems to be falling apart. Can you pray that prayer this morning? Can you profess such faith this morning? Can you turn and simply and sincerely declare, great is your faithfulness? Can you sincerely sing, great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changes not, thy compassions they fail not. as thou hast been thou forever will be. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. Can you sing that? Can I sing it this morning? Jeremiah then went on. He went on the offense in the midst of his internal battle, and we see a radical transformation as he then speaks to himself. You see, confronted and comforted by the faithfulness of God, how did Jeremiah's internal world respond? The Lord is my portion, says my soul. He's my everything, says my soul. Therefore, I will hope in him. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Do you realize what just took place? Jeremiah's soul surrendered to the truth and to the reality of God. His soul that continually remembered and was bowed down is a soul that now says, the Lord is my portion, therefore I will have hope. The intensity and the urgency of the shouts and screams of his heart, his mind, his soul, and even his senses that were overwhelming him have now grown quiet and calm. Like a toddler whose ever increasing volume and continual persistence subside, because they've been acknowledged and addressed by mom and dad. So too was Jeremiah's internal world. And notice, it wasn't because his outward circumstances changed. It's because his internal world had changed. Where he was not only able to see the storm, he was also able to see the destination. It's a remarkable transformation that you and I have witnessed this morning. Remember what we read in verses 19 and 20? Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall? My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. At the beginning of our passage, his soul continually called to mind all the afflictions of life. But after an encounter with God and his word, Jeremiah's soul found hope, realized in the Lord. And the urgency and the intensity of the moment had given a way to allow him to say, the Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It's a remarkable thing that has taken place in Jeremiah's heart. And you and I, by the grace of God, have had the privilege of witnessing it unfold before our eyes. But more personally, has something remarkable taken place in your own heart this day? Has something taken place in your heart by the work of the same spirit and the same word that is at work in this time and in this place, just as it was in Jeremiah's? because of your encounter with the one true living God, because of your encounter with God and his word, has your hope been reignited and restored? Are you able to say, the Lord is good to those who wait for him? Are you able to say, great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me? Are you able to sing that? Even if there's tears rolling down your face. Even if there's a lump in your throat and an ache in your soul. Even if it's no stronger than a whisper. You and I stand on the precipice of a new week. And as we do so, you and I have a choice. Will you and I focus on the difficulty of the journey or will we focus on the hope of the destination? Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, many of us know what it is like to be overwhelmed and discouraged. Some of us know all too well because that is what we are experiencing right now. We can be discouraged because of the circumstances right in front of us and overwhelmed as we wonder what the future may hold. And so we pray that in the midst of a clamor that can come from throughout and even from within our own hearts, will you quiet and calm our souls and press upon us the realities of your steadfast love and of your mercies that never come to an end, so that we can join with Jeremiah and declare, great is thy faithfulness. May we do so even if it comes out no stronger than a whisper. Father, point us past the immediate and point us to eternity. and remind us how in the immediacy of the cross of your Son, it seemed like all hope was lost, and yet, with Christ's resurrection, the cross became the soil from which our hope took root and bore the fruit of forgiveness and everlasting life with you. Father, we love you. Thank you for loving us first. All this we ask in the name of your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.