“The Multitude of God’s Mercies”

April 29, 2026 James Preus

Rev. Rolf Preus| Jubilate Sunday| April 26, 2026| Lamentations 3:22-33

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.

Let him sit alone and keep silent,
Because God has laid it on him;
Let him put his mouth in the dust—
There may yet be hope.
Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him,
And be full of reproach.

For the Lord will not cast off forever.
Though He causes grief,
Yet He will show compassion
According to the multitude of His mercies.
For He does not afflict willingly,
Nor grieve the children of men.

He’s one of the most popular preachers in the world. Thousands of people gather to hear him. He’s written dozens of books from which he has earned many millions of dollars. His name is Joel Osteen. My wife calls him the whipper snapper. That’s a pretty accurate designation. The man has no theological education. He’s ignorant of basic Christian doctrine. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. But this is America where anyone can preach anything he wants and a slick talking preacher can become hugely successful despite his lack of credentials. Osteen is a gifted speaker. More than that, he has a message that resonates with millions of people, and as long as folks have itching ears there will be Joel Osteens getting rich off the poor wandering sheep who are looking for kindness in a brutal world.

Osteen is a prosperity preacher. Prosperity preachers preach that God wants to bless you with money, good health, success in personal relationships, and just about everything one would want to live a happy life in this world. Of course, their preaching is a lie. They don’t know the mind of God. They don’t know if God wants someone to be rich or poor, healthy or sick. They know that God loves everyone. They know that God wants to bless his children. They just don’t understand what that means.

Jeremiah, who wrote Lamentations, is known as the weeping prophet. In verses 46-49 of this chapter we read,

All our enemies
Have opened their mouths against us.
Fear and a snare have come upon us,
Desolation and destruction.
My eyes overflow with rivers of water
For the destruction of the daughter of my people.

My eyes flow and do not cease,
Without interruption.

He prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem. Then he witnessed it. He witnessed God’s anger against sin and his fierce retribution on those who deny him and defy him. Jeremiah suffered terribly at the hands of a corrupt king. Yet while he was weeping and mourning Jeremiah was confident of God’s mercy. He wrote:

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.

Today is Jubilate Sunday. The names of the Sundays of the church year come from the first words of the Introit for the day. Today’s Introit begins with the words, “Shout for joy to God, all the earth.” The word jubilate means rejoice. Shout for joy. Yes, shout for joy when you suffer pain, sickness, betrayal, violence, and every other evil. Rejoice in your suffering.

The apostle Paul writes in Romans 5:1-5,

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Everything depends on perspective. How you see things. If you know you are righteous in God’s sight, then you know that you’re not being punished even when you are suffering terrible losses. Sinners suffer for their sins. Sins are not reckoned to righteous people. The Bible teaches that the Christian is justified, that is, reckoned to be righteous by God, through faith in Christ, and not by doing righteous things. Being justified by God, we have peace with God. Having peace with God we rejoice. This is the perspective from which we view our lives.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.

The Lord is my portion. He belongs to me. I am his and he is mine. He rules over all creation. He created, he sustains, he governs. And he does everything he does for the benefit of his children. He belongs to us. If I have the One who owns everything and rules everything then I am as wealthy as wealthy can be. When I lack possessions, good health, popularity, and power – what does it mean? That I am without God? No! He is my portion. He is mine. This is how I can live in hope. The God who loves me is in charge.

But this isn’t something you can know by looking around and measuring success as the world measures it. This is the cardinal error of Osteen and the prosperity preachers. They want it now! About twenty years ago, Osteen wrote a book entitled, Your Best Life Now. It sold over eight million copies. People are looking for the best that God can give and they want it now. Osteen will show you how to get it now.

But that’s not what the prophet teaches, and the prophet Jeremiah spoke for God. He wasn’t a hireling, preaching to scratch the itching ears of his audience. He was the voice of God. He said that we should wait. It’s good to wait. It’s good to wait quietly for God to deliver us from whatever troubles beset us.

We live in hope. The times of struggling, suffering, being confined, being frustrated, and wanting but not getting God’s blessings are times of great blessing. Now this is what one might call counterintuitive. It makes no sense. But here we must keep in mind that God’s wisdom is greater than ours. He sees what we cannot see. He knows what we cannot know.

It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.

God lays it on you. No! That cannot be! God wants us to prosper, be happy, and be successful. Doesn’t St. John write in his third Epistle, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers?” Yes, he does. But think. If it is God who wants you to prosper, and if it is God who prospers you, don’t you think that God knows how to do it? Or do you think you know better than God?

Bear the yoke God lays on you. Humble yourself under God’s mighty hand. Put your face into the dust. Bear the insult. Only the humble can have hope. The proud want to control their lives, plan their successes, revel in them, and rely on them. And everything they worked for, strived for, and suffered for is gone just like that! Only the humble will be exalted. Only the humble can have hope because they hope, not in their own cleverness or achievements, but in God’s mercy.

God causes grief. And to the grieving he shows compassion. Why? Because that’s the way he is. He is full of compassion, full of mercy, full of love. Though you cannot always see it or feel it and it looks like it’s not even true, your confidence in God’s mercy is not based on what you are experiencing. It’s based on what God has done and will do.

Jesus died. The disciples were overwhelmed by grief. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.” And it was. He rose from the dead. All our sins were buried in Joseph’s tomb. He rose from the dead with eternal life to give. And he gives it. It was only a little while between his crucifixion and his resurrection.

But then he ascended into heaven where we cannot see him. And while we wait for him to return, it seems to us a very long time. It’s been nearly two thousand years! But Jesus calls it a little while. The psalmist writes:

For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it is past,
And like a watch in the night. (Psalm 90:4)

God doesn’t measure time as we do. He sees everything before it happens. He governs us in such a way as to bless us, though as things are happening to us, we can’t understand what God is doing or why. Why is God doing what he is doing? What is he doing? Why does he permit this terrible evil? Why doesn’t he eliminate suffering? How do we harmonize an almighty and all loving God with the existence of evil and suffering? There’s even a fancy word for this. It’s called theodicy.

God is almighty. God is all loving. You can’t figure it out? Neither can I. Neither can anyone. But we have God’s clear promise in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” And in Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” If Jesus is going to die for us, bearing away our sin on the cross; if he is going to reconcile us to God, giving us the confidence that all our sins are forgiven and we stand before God as saints, clothed in Christ’s righteousness; if he is going to rise from the dead, ascend into heaven, and rule over all creation for the benefit of his church; will he not bless us? Will he not use the bad things that happen to us for our good? Will he not move heaven and earth to give us what we need to remain his dear children who are headed for glory? Oh, he will!

We seek God in his Word, taking to heart his promise that he will not leave us or forsake us or let evil overpower us. When God lays a cross on us, we wait. We wait humbly. We don’t insist on our best life now. We leave it up to God.

When life’s troubles rise to meet me,
Though their weight
May be great,
They will not defeat me.
God, my loving Savior, sends them;
He who knows
All my woes
Knows how best to end them. (LSB 756 2) Amen