TITLE: Darkest Before Dawn

TEXT: Lamentations 3
PROPOSITION: Depression is a common problem among Christians.
QUESTION: How?
KEY WORD: Expressions
SCRIPTURE READING:

INTRODUCTION:

1. Lamentations is an appendix (additional material) to Jeremiah

2. Lamentations is a funeral song, written 586 BC

3. Lamentations means – sorrow, mourn, grieve

4. Lamentations is a description of life after the fall of Jerusalem and the temple is destroyed – by Babylon

1. Everybody hurts

   1. Physical and emotional pain brings on serious depression

      1. Afflicted – 3:1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.

      2. Skin like a worn out garment, bones broken – 3:4 He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones.

      3. Teeth broken (kneed bread on ground, stones on the bread) – 3:16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes.

   2. Chronic pain is the leading cause of depression

      1. Whether physical or emotional pain

      2. Everyone experiences pain – some more than others

      3. Our natural reaction is to close up when we need to open up

      4. We have a choice – How will I respond to my pain?
         
          

2. I'm so lonesome I could cry

   1. Things become more difficult if we feel all alone

      1. All turned against him – 3:14 I have become the ridicule of all my people—Their taunting song all the day.

      2. He even thought God was against him – 3:2-3 ² He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light. ³ Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day.

   2. When pain leads to depression, loneliness will soon follow

      1. We must avoid the temptation to isolate ourselves from those who can help us. Two reasons:

         1. We tend to isolate ourselves

         2. Others avoid us because it depresses them

      2. Most Christians will listen, talk, advise, admonish, encourage us
         
          

3. Helpless, Hopeless and Heartbroken

   1. The culmination of this suffering is – No Hope

      1. Trapped and heavily burdened – 3:7 He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy.

      2. Being pulled apart in all directions – 3:11 He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate.

   2. Depression leads to loneliness – leads to desperation.

      1. Hurting people often hurt themselves and/or others

      2. Cain – killed his brother;
         Elisha became a recluse;
         Peter denied Jesus;
         Judas killed himself
         
          

4. Where could I go but to the Lord?

   1. The Lord is Jeremiah's only hope – 3:19-20 ¹⁹ Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall. ²⁰ My soul still remembers And sinks within me.

   2. When you find yourself at “rock bottom”:

      1. Stop digging!

      2. He came to realize that he must seek the Lord – 3:22-23 ²² Through the LORD’S mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. ²³ They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

   3. We must be patient and quiet – 3:24-26 ²⁴ “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” ²⁵ The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. ²⁶ It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD.