Lamentations 3:22-26
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul,
‘therefore I will hope in him.’
The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
Our journey through the book of Daniel these last few weeks has had us reflect on the mighty power of God. Life can throw any of us into some fairly dangerous situations. We heard how Daniel was blessed with the gift of interpreting dreams and was given the opportunity to interpret the dreams of a powerful person, King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel was rewarded with a position in the king’s court overseeing all the wise men of the kingdom. He asked the king to elevate his three friends to similarly important positions of power. The king then had a statute made and expected everyone in the kingdom to worship it, but Daniel’s friends refused to worship it and were thrown into a fiery furnace. God showed his mighty power and miraculously saved them from the furnace.
The hymn writer, Thomas Chisholm, had a similar witness of God’s mighty power. He was an extremely intelligent and ambitious man. At the young age of 16, he was already a teacher and became his town’s newspaper editor by the age of 21. By his late-20s, Thomas had dedicated his life to serving as a Methodist preacher. By his mid-30s, he was married with two daughters and a thriving congregation. Unfortunately, his heath rapidly deteriorated in his 40s and he accrued debilitating hospital bills. He was forced to leave his church and sell life insurance. But his faith never wavered and with persistent optimism, Thomas managed to write over 1,200 poems giving thanks and praise to God. One of his poems he wrote while reflecting on this passage from Lamentations. Out of that opening verse, “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness,” arose his most famous poem, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” With the help of a composer at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Thomas added music to his poem and created our well-beloved hymn. Let us join in singing the familiar tune.
Psalm 16
Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.’
As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble,
in whom is all my delight.
Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows;
their drink-offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names upon my lips.
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
For you do not give me up to Sheol,
or let your faithful one see the Pit.
You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
God’s mighty power was revealed in Daniel’s life, in his friends’ lives, and reflected on by both the author of Lamentations and the poet, Thomas Chisholm. They all found themselves in dangerous, hopeless situations and somehow managed to cling to God’s love and salvation. All is not lost when God is with you. He has the power to change any situation from hopeless to hopeful. God controls all situations, good and bad. God is sovereign Lord of all! We’re celebrating his sovereignty today in song and word and this psalm accurately conveys the inner turmoil we go through while waiting on God to deliver us. We plead with God to protect us and eventually find resolution in his mighty power. “I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” We take comfort in knowing and trusting that God will save us from our dangerous situations. We don’t know how, we don’t know why…all we know and trust is that God will deliver us.
Unlike the poet, Thomas Chisholm, the hymn writer, Robert Robinson, was a troubled and troublesome boy. After his father died when he was 14, he got himself mixed up in all sorts of trouble. His mother sent him to London where he only became more troublesome. A chance encounter with the great Methodist preacher, George Whitfield, turned his life around as God grabbed ahold of him. Not too much later, Robert met up with the powerful Methodist preacher, John Wesley, who tasked him with coming up with a hymn to accompany one of his sermons. Robert set to the task and wrote our beloved hymn, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” God managed to take a troublesome young boy and help him realize all his many blessings. Let us join in singing the familiar tune.
Isaiah 26:7-13
The way of the righteous is level;
O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous.
In the path of your judgments,
O Lord, we wait for you;
your name and your renown
are the soul’s desire.
My soul yearns for you in the night,
my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
If favor is shown to the wicked,
they do not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness they deal perversely
and do not see the majesty of the Lord.
O Lord, your hand is lifted up,
but they do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.
Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.
O Lord, you will ordain peace for us,
for indeed, all that we have done, you have done for us.
O Lord our God,
other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but we acknowledge your name alone.
God’s mighty power was revealed through Daniel and his friends, through those who are beset with troubles like Thomas Chisholm and King David, and even through those who are troublesome like Robert Robinson. They all attested to God’s mighty power in their lives. They all experienced it firsthand as they were saved from dire situations. The prophet, Isaiah, also spoke of God’s power. A prophet’s job is often a job no one wants. It involves telling people what they don’t want to hear, that they angered or upset God by their words or deeds. The prophet then pleads with them to change their ways. God can restore broken relationships but only for those who want them restored. And sometimes those broken relationships can seem irreparable. Our God is a mighty God though! He can repair the irreparable! Isaiah attests to this: “O Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for indeed, all that we have done, you have done for us.”
The hymn writer, Samuel Rodigast, wrote our next hymn, “What God Ordains is Good Indeed,” as a means of comforting his sick friend. There are situations of great pain and suffering in this life. A broken relationship or a sickness can cause us great suffering. But God is always in that suffering with us and God uses our suffering to create something good. After all, it is in and through suffering that God’s glory is most clearly revealed which goes to show that He is sovereign even over suffering. Let us join in singing this beautiful yet unfamiliar tune.
Matthew 7:24-27
[Jesus said,] ‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!’
We close out our readings and songs with the words of Jesus himself. Jesus teaches us many things about God as a means of getting us to trust him. Our God is a good and gracious God who deserves nothing but our love and trust! Our God is a sovereign God who is in control of every part of our lives. We can trust him! We can trust He will deliver us from all our troubles. When we trust him, it is as if we are building our houses on rock. He is a solid rock in our lives. Daniel knew this and trusted this. Daniel’s friends knew this and trusted this. Kings Solomon and David knew this and trusted this. Isaiah knew this and trusted this. They all built their lives on God’s love and promise. And they were all delivered from their dangerous situations because of their trust in God.
Our closing hymn, “How Firm a Foundation,” celebrates the foundational aspect of God and God’s word. Alas, it has an anonymous author even though it was first found in Rippon’s hymnbook. But that doesn’t make it any less significant in its history over the last couple hundred years. It often is used by military leaders to help endure the atrocities of war. Our God is a steady rock in times of uncertainty, especially times of war. Our God is a mighty God! Our God is a sovereign God! The book of Daniel clearly illustrates this for us. Let us join in singing this familiar tune.
