Life is hard, and God is good.

This was the point John Piper made in this sermon, thank God for the mercies of Christ,

preached on November 19th, 2000 on Lamentations chapter 3.

Here's what he said.

Lamentations chapter 3.

You may have a hard time finding it.

It's a teeny little book sandwiched between Jeremiah, the big prophet, and Ezekiel.

It's a book that I do not expect many of you to know anything about because it is so small

and so tucked away there doesn't get read very much, and one of the reasons it doesn't

is because it's such a horrible book, because it is so shot through with horrific pictures

of the judgment of God upon Jerusalem.

Jeremiah wrote this little book as Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 BC, and the pictures of

destruction are terrible, loss of life, starvation through siege, but, and here's the amazing

thing.

In the middle of this five chapter book, the middle chapter comes some of the sweetest,

most precious words that God has ever put in the mouth of a prophet to tell to his people.

And those are the ones I want to read, because they have a special punch when you realize

where they are.

Verse 21 to 25 of chapter 3 of lamentations, go like this.

This I recall to mind, and therefore I have hope.

The Lord's loving kindness is never cease.

His compassion or his mercies never fail.

...