The Prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament famously

lamented the sorry state of God's people who were defeated and enslaved by the Babylonians.

But in the middle of that lament he recalled something that gave him hope and still gives us hope today.

We'll find out what that is together as today we study Lamentations 3 on Truth for Life.

Alistair Bagan is concluding a special message titled New Every Morning.

Now think about this for just a moment.

Let's say you're in a situation similar to this where all the wheels have fallen off your wagon and you're just bereft of joy and disappointment has faced you.

You're aware of your own sinfulness. The church has not been going as well as you hoped and so on.

Why would we say great is that faithfulness? I mean the things are the things miserable we've just described it.

It's absolutely hopeless. Everything overwhelming us. The horrible music playing in the background. Great is that faithfulness.

Okay, well let's look at this. The second point is that this is actually an encouraging word for a discouraged people because you will notice there is a transition.

In verse 18 my endurance has perished and so has my hope. If verse 21 but this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.

Oh wait a minute. Only a couple of verses ago you had no hope and now you've got hope. What changed? What changed?

The fact is that our pilgrimage through life is marked not by great seasons of joy and triumph but it is marked by periods in our lives that confront us with the finitude of our lives.

I preach Sunday by Sunday to a congregation or to congregations whose lives are marked in many cases by quiet desperation.

If you scratch just beneath the surface they will finally tell you. Yes, this is true. This is true. I don't know what to do.

And by the other day I said to myself, I think my hope is almost gone. What changed? Nothing looked hopeful. Nothing looked worthwhile. Nothing looked possible.

Certainly nothing looked comforting. Notice the key phrase. 21. This I call to mind. To mind.

You see the Christian life is a mind altering experience. Christian faith is about history. It's about geography. It's about reality.

It's about real people in real time making real encounters with a real God. It's not a fiction.

Therefore why would we be surprised if people's stories were marked by all of these elements of the ramifications of just the reality of human existence?

So what is it that distinguishes the Christian from the non-Christian? It is a complete fallacy to suggest that the Christian is the triumphant one.

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