The God in Our Sorrows
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 9 viewsNotes
Transcript
15 Thus says the Lord:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.”
7 For they sow the wind,
and they shall reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain has no heads;
it shall yield no flour;
if it were to yield,
strangers would devour it.
Looking for answers after the tragedy in Buffalo and Uvalde where there was a school shooting that killed 19 children and 2 teachers.
How can this happen?
Why these innocent children? These young lives that have been taken.
Why?
Putting ourselves in the place of the parents, the families that lost these angels...
Questions:
1. Where is God in this tragedy?
2. How do we respond?
Where is God in this tragedy?
God is with those who suffer and He suffers with them.
He Himself is acquainted with grief.
15 Thus says the Lord:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.”
It was first referring to God punishing the Jewish nation.. weeping at Ramah, as they were assembled for their long journey to Babylon. (tied to punishment)
This verse from the Bible has double meaning, it was used by Matthew on the murder of the innocents. (tied to intentional murder)
How do we respond?
We pray with lamentation.
“Weep with those who weep”.
Background of Jeremiah
Not self-righteously aloof - “you should have listened to me.”
Jeremiah was undeserving of the punishment of the nation and yet he suffered with them.
11 My eyes fail with tears,
My heart is troubled;
My bile is poured on the ground
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
Because the children and the infants
Faint in the streets of the city.
Tragedy awakens us to our need for God.
This nation is facing the consequences of its turning its back on God.
Sow the wind and we reap the whirlwind.
7 For they sow the wind,
and they shall reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain has no heads;
it shall yield no flour;
if it were to yield,
strangers would devour it.
How is the world reacting - “we are tired of these moments of silence!”
We are tired of praying, when in fact that should be the first response.
Life has been devalued
This tragedy is a message to the church and to the world. I remember Jesus’ words, “weep not for me, weep for yourselves!”, He also said in Luke 13, if you do not repent you will also likewise perish!
Let us weep for the children, the two teachers and the husband who died. But let us also weep for this nation and the world
We don’t blame God - why didn’t He stop the shooter?
Suffering is a pathway to our redemption.
32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept.
“A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”
The cross of Jesus - he placed Himself on the hook of suffering
His agony - not my will
Jesus is weeping