Trust No One But God

Nov 2013, Lamentations: Homiletic Sermon "Trust No One But God"

I.          INTRODUCTION

An ancient Chinese proverb says, ‘Mountains shall crumble and trees shall fall, men shall run their ways in times of troubles, the best is to trust only yourself.’ Men are tempted to trust in a visible world, e.g. resources we have, but difficult to discipline ourselves to trust in the invisible God who are all-powerful and trustworthy. It is when we are at our wits-end that we start to ‘try’ God.

Many of us come to know God with our desperate needs in our gloomiest days. Unknowingly, as we perceive ourselves growing in the path of God, we actually sink back to our previous fallen condition by trusting our wealth (e.g. spirituality, seniority or experience). The faith of the biblical Israelites was just as vulnerable as we are. They were God’s people, possessing great spiritual wealth and prominent as a theocratic nation. Yet their errors of trusting not merely their status as God’s chosen people, but on foreign gods and foreign nations were prevalently found in the Bible.

II.        TRUST NO ONE BUT GOD

In Lamentations 4: 17-22 we encounter a community who suffered miserably because they had placed wrongly their trust. This sermon is entitled as “TRUST NO ONE BUT GOD”. We will explore further what the community have trusted, their humiliated consequences and remedies. We could learn from their failures and make a wise decision this day to not trust in anyone or anything, but to trust only in God.

1.         WRONG TRUST

A brief study on Lamentations 4:17-22 uncovers that the community have placed their trust in two wrong sources: their worldly association and alliance in v 17, and their spiritual/political position and privilege in v 20.

1.1       WORLDLY ASSOCIATION AND ALLIANCE (V17)

(17) Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help; in our watching we watched for a nation which could not save.

The nation is Egypt whom Israelites have made their political and military treaties with. Yet in the event of Babylonians’ invasion, Egypt remained unconcerned towards her friend’s suffering. Israelites looked eagerly for her rescue but were disappointed after a long period of waiting.

God has been warning His people not to have any political alliances with Egypt, even in the imminent destruction of the city. Though Egyptians were powerful with their chariot and horses, they were nevertheless worshippers of heathen gods and any alliances with her meant a possibility of being assimilated by their cultic beliefs and sinful culture.

What worldly association and alliance we have made as Christians? These happen when we adopt the worldly beliefs, systems or approaches to run our daily courses, and we trust them more than the biblical ways. Do our styles of business operation, education, finance management, relationship & conflicts management and healthcare methods etc differ from what the world believe and practice? Are we assimilated by a worldly culture and system that promote and concern mainly about the end but not the means?

Many Christians have equalled success, victory, effectiveness and efficiency to biblical approaches endorsed by God, and used these as measurements for one’s spiritual maturity and leadership qualification. The church functions like a working force in a corporate company, and it becomes an organization rather than an organism. The worldly system has permeated the ways we do missions, evangelism and pastoral care. We seek helps from the corporate brains and not from the biblical perspectives. Hence most of us are guilty of the sin of the people of Judah. We need to make a reverse to fix our eyes to keep watch on God!

1.2     SPIRITUAL/POLITICAL POSITION AND PRIVILEGE (V20)

(20) The breath of our nostrils, the Lord’s anointed, was taken in their pits, he of whom we said, “Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.”

‘The breath of our nostrils’ is a term describing Canaanite and Egyptian leaders in their literatures, and ‘the Lord’s anointed’ is Zedekiah the king. The Davidic kingship is not merely a political figure, but signifies the spiritual position and privilege the Jewish nation enjoys as a chosen people of God in His promised land endowed with His special and prioritized favour and care. 

As Christians, we might trust our pastors and leaders more than God Himself. We listen to men rather than obeying God. We rely on and conform to the structures and forms set by the church instead of observing the spiritual law laid for us. We are overconfident of who we are as the chosen people of God without living a holy life. We are too occupied by the spiritual activities in the church that we ignore the social duty the Lord has assigned to us.   

Many Christians lose their faith leaving their churches not because God is unreal, but because their pastors have failed or disappointed them. Would you lose your hope and trust in God if your pastor sins against God and is removed from his position? Would you still follow God faithfully without being discouraged? Your reaction and decision speak of where you have placed your trust and faith.

2.       CONSEQUENCES OF WRONG TRUST

2.1       IN VAIN AND IN LOSS (V17 & 20)

(17) Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help; in our watching we watched for a nation which could not save.

(20) The breath of our nostrils, the Lord’s anointed, was taken in their pits, he of whom we said, “Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.”

The people realized that Egypt was unreliable and she was not the savior Judah should be searching for. Their efforts in watching were truly in vain. They should instead watch for God who could and would save them. Zedekiah was taken as a captive and exiled in the foreign land. He was the “shade”, the protection and covering over his people, but was then deprived of his position and became a powerless prisoner who could not defend even himself.

If we are to trust on the worldly association and alliance, and think that whatever is workable at the moment will bring us lasting success, we would fail terribly as how Judah had failed. Our efforts will be in vain and we will experience great losses in our established ministries. Many who pursue the worldly path lose their reputation and ministry and even their relationship with God.

The Lord shall be our King and none shall become our idols. We serve and follow our pastors and leaders in accordance to the biblical commands and requirements, but we are not to ‘worship” or ‘idolize’ them until they become our superstars and cause us to neglect our personal relationship with God. 

2.2       YIELD OUR BITTER FRUITS OF IDOLATRY (V18 & 19)

(18) Men dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; our end drew near; our days were numbered; for our end had come. (19) Our pursuers were swifter than the vultures in the heavens; they chased us on the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

The Lord has opened the gate of Jerusalem and crumbled its walls. Babylon could not enter Judah without God’s permission. Idolatry is abhorred by God and He disallows it to be continued. God has used Babylonians to punish the sins of Israelites, for their unfaithfulness and wickedness. The people were hewn by enemies from all sides, within and without. They had no hope for the future and perceived their end to be near.

If we were to follow the Egyptians’ way and trust in their chariot and horses, and if we were to cling on to our spiritual or political superiority and trust on our status as children of God without living rightly before Him, we will inevitably violate the biblical principles and expose ourselves to another bigger disaster brought by a greater enemy, Babylonians.

Learn to shun all evils and the sin of idolatry. The Lord will be our greatest enemy behind all our physical enemies and calamities, turning His face and hand against us if we seek helps from the world and do not submit ourselves to worship and to trust Him fully.    

3.       RIGHT TRUST

Learning their mistakes, the community surrendered both themselves and their enemy (Edom) to God, knowing that only God is the avenger and restorer for their misfortunes.

3.1     ENTRUST THE ENEMY TO GOD (V21 & 22)

(21) Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, dweller in the land of Uz; but to you also the cup shall pass; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare. (22)  The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished, he will keep you in exile no longer; but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish, he will uncover your sins.

Edom was the only enemy mentioned instead of Babylon. It could be that Edomites worsened their condition by plundering the city of Jerusalem after its fall. The community could only trusted and hoped that the cup of suffering they were drinking now would be passed on to the Edomites, and they too would suffer miserably for all the evils done.

Biblical way of handling our enemies is either to love and forgive them, or to entrust them into God’s mighty hand. God has a better way of dealing with our enemies and we are forbid to revenge ourselves. He is our judge and He will make sure the enemies receive the portions of their cups if they were persistently unrepentant.

3.2     SUBMIT OURSELVES TO GOD (V22)

(22)  The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished, he will keep you in exile no longer; but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish, he will uncover your sins.

The community believed that they had suffered enough of God’s punishment, and they were reminded of the faithful promises of God for their nation. God shall not forsake them forever, but He will cleanse all their iniquities and bring back the exiles.

In times of troubles, we need to repent of our sins and readjust our perspective towards an ‘angry’ God. We should be reminded of His faithfulness and love, His grace and mercy, and be assured that He will not leave us as orphans as long as we return to Him.    

III.    CONCLUSION

Wrong trust yields eternal curses and right trust yields eternal blessings. God is sovereign both in our blessings and our curses. Thus choose to place our trust on no one but Him!

Though we may fail sometimes as how Israelites fail, God always provides a way for us to return to Him. Our role is to forsake all our idols and to restore our trust in Him we worship and follow.

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