From Despair to Hope

From Despair to Hope · Lamentations 3:1–26 · Sermon by Martin Ward · Life & Truth Missions · 27 September 2026

From looking at myself to looking at God. Hope. Wait. Seek.

Before You Listen

This Sunday we take a look into one of the darkest chapters in the Bible, and one of the most hopeful. Lamentations was written after Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 586 BC. The city was in ruins, the temple was burned, and the people had been carried off into exile. The book itself doesn't name its author; tradition has long attributed it to Jeremiah, and Martin follows that tradition here.

The first twenty verses of chapter 3 are about as low as Scripture goes. The writer describes himself as walled in, weighed down with chains, and shot through with arrows, and says his prayers are shut out. By verse 18 he says his hope from the LORD has perished.

Then verse 21 changes everything: "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope." Nothing about his circumstances has changed between verse 20 and verse 21. Jerusalem is still in ruins. What has changed is where he is looking.

As you listen, I'd encourage you to watch for three things:

• The pronouns. Count the "I," "me" and "my" in verses 1–20, then notice who becomes the subject from verse 22 onward.
• The three truths about God that Martin draws out of verses 22–23: His mercy, His compassion, and His faithfulness.
• The three words he leaves us with: hope, wait, and seek.

Martin reads from the NIV. I quote the ESV below.

After You've Listened — Recap & Application

Rock bottom (verses 1–20)

Martin began by reminding us that Jeremiah's suffering came largely because he obeyed God. He delivered the message he was given, the people didn't want to hear it, and he was mocked, beaten and imprisoned for it (Jeremiah 37–38). When Jerusalem finally fell exactly as he had warned, he was left sitting in the rubble.

Martin's point was simple and honest: the more the writer looked at his own situation, the deeper the pit became. Verses 1–20 are full of "I," "me" and "my." But he also pointed out the one advantage of rock bottom. When you can't go any lower, the only direction left to look is up.

The turn (verse 21)

"But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope." (Lamentations 3:21)

This is the hinge of the whole chapter. I want to be careful here, because this verse is easy to turn into a technique. The writer is not practising positive thinking or talking himself into a better mood. He is deliberately calling to mind things that are true about God, and those things were true all along, even in verses 1–20. His hope has an object, and the object is the LORD.

Martin connected this to Philippians 4:8: "whatever is true... think about these things." What we set our minds on shapes how we walk through trouble.

Mercy: "we are not consumed" (verse 22)

Martin drew attention to the NIV wording: "Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed." Things were terrible, but the writer was still alive. He could have been killed in the siege or by the Babylonian soldiers, and he wasn't.

More than that, Martin said, the judgment that fell on Jerusalem was actually less than the nation deserved. God's mercy was visible even inside His judgment. That is a hard truth and a comforting one at the same time.

A short textual note: the NIV's "we are not consumed" follows the standard Hebrew text. The ESV follows a slightly different reading found in some ancient versions (the Syriac and the Targum): "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases." The ESV footnotes the Hebrew reading. Both readings make the same basic point, that God's steadfast love is why anything remains at all.

Compassion: "new every morning" (verse 23)

"His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning." (Lamentations 3:22–23)

Every morning is a fresh supply. Yesterday's failures don't use up today's mercy. Martin encouraged us to begin each day by asking God to let us see His love and care for us that day.

Faithfulness: "great is your faithfulness" (verse 23)

This was the part of the sermon that struck me most. We usually hear "great is your faithfulness" as a promise of comfort, and it is. But Martin showed that the writer could see God's faithfulness in the destruction too. God had warned His people for years that Babylon would come if they kept on in idolatry and rejected Him. They laughed at the prophets. And it happened exactly as God said.

God is faithful in His warnings as well as His promises. The same faithfulness that brought judgment is what makes His promises of mercy utterly reliable.

"The LORD is my portion" (verse 24)

"'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.'" (Lamentations 3:24)

The writer had lost his city, his nation's security and his future plans. What was left was the LORD Himself, and that was enough. The language of "portion" runs through Scripture: it was the Levites' inheritance instead of land (Numbers 18:20), and it is the psalmist's confession when everything else fails (Psalm 73:26).

Martin spoke personally here about plans that didn't work out and people who disappointed him. He also named the false hopes people cling to: government, leaders, circumstances changing overnight. None of these can carry the weight of real hope. "If you still have God, you still have hope."

Hope, wait, seek (verses 25–26)

"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." (Lamentations 3:25–26)

Martin was honest that waiting is hard, because we want God to act now. He brought in Psalm 27:14 ("Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage") and Psalm 37:7 ("Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself").

His key point was that waiting does not mean doing nothing. Waiting means trusting God while He works in ways we can't yet see. It is interesting that the NIV renders Isaiah 40:31 "those who hope in the LORD" while the ESV has "they who wait for the LORD." In the Hebrew of the Old Testament, hoping and waiting are very closely bound together, and the translations reflect that. You can't really do one without the other.

Finally, we are to seek Him. Martin quoted Jeremiah 29:13, God's word to the exiles in Babylon: "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." He also quoted Jesus in Matthew 7:7: "seek, and you will find."

Application

Martin's closing appeal was direct: when life gets hard, don't run from God, run towards Him. When you're discouraged, confused, alone or afraid, seek Him. And remember the cross, where God has already shown us His love at its fullest, along with His promise: "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).

For this week, I'd suggest three practical things:

• Notice where you're looking. When discouragement settles in, ask honestly whether you've been staring at yourself and your problem for days.
• Call specific truths to mind. Not vague optimism but named facts about God: His mercy, His compassion, His faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22–24 is a good place to start each morning.
• Wait without fretting, and keep seeking. Keep praying, keep reading, keep turning up, even when God hasn't yet shown you what He's doing.

Reflection Questions

• Read Lamentations 3:1–20 slowly. Where do you recognise your own way of thinking in those verses?
• In verse 21 nothing about the writer's circumstances changes, yet he has hope. What exactly changed, and why does it matter that what he "called to mind" was true before verse 21 as well?
• How is calling to mind the truth about God different from positive thinking or trying to feel better?
• Martin said God is faithful in His warnings as well as His promises. How does that make His promises of mercy more reliable, not less?
• "The LORD is my portion." What else are you tempted to make your portion: people, plans, security, a change of circumstances?
• Is there something you are waiting on God for right now? What would it look like to wait for Him quietly and without fretting, while still seeking Him?

Bottom Line

The writer of Lamentations 3 didn't climb out of despair by changing his circumstances or his mood. He changed where he was looking: from himself to God. God's mercy, compassion and faithfulness were true in the rubble of Jerusalem, and they are true in whatever you are facing this week. If you still have God, you still have hope. So hope in Him, wait for Him, and seek Him.