This I Call to Mind

COVID has impacted many of our lives these past several years. In addition, there are a host of other challenges many are facing including increasing shifts in our culture’s values, the economy, personal finances, racial issues, and political divisiveness. All of it can leave us with growing fear, depression, and anger.

The book of Lamentations is not a book we tend to pick up, especially if we are searching for a perspective that will lift us out of the present darkness. The author, thought to be Jeremiah, writes two and a half chapters of deep lament for all that has happened to Israel. For instance:

·      “How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of his anger” (2:1).

·      “I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, ‘my splendor is gone and all that I hoped from the Lord.’ I remember my affliction and my wandering. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me” (3:17-20).

Jeremiah is in a dark place, but in chapter three turns to a treasured memory,

“Yet, this I call to mind and therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him. ‘The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (3:21-26, italics mine).

Jeremiah Knew Two Different Realities!

Jeremiah’s first reality was an honest and sober view of earthly human strife and loss; a reality that he experienced along with Israel.

Jeremiah’s second reality was greater because it was grounded in who God is.

Despite the losses he and his people experienced, Jeremiah was able to live within the first reality and thus he experienced a higher hope.

If you are a Christian, you too know both realities. Learning to face the first, while focusing on and choosing to embrace the second, allows you to have a “hope” beyond present earthly circumstances. That’s the hope Jeremiah called to mind even with his downcast soul. What was the content of this “hope”?

1.     Because of the Lord’s love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

2.     His compassions are new every morning.

3.     Great is his faithfulness!

4.     The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him.

5.     The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.

6.     It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Jeremiah is honest about his own life reality, which is what led him to welcome and be comforted by the Lord’s presence, compassions, and goodness. Do you see it? The second reality does not deny the first; it transcends it!

Can I encourage you to take time to sit with these six steps of thought Jeremiah puts before us?

If you are not a Christian, I would invite you to do the same thing, to sit with Jeremiah’s testimony. You, like everyone, are familiar with the first reality. Maybe it’s time to become familiar with the second?

If that interests you, please let the Renewing Life Center be of service to you. Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10). He is inviting you to come to him. He desires to give you peace and the hope Jeremiah knew and speaks of. We would love to help you know him and the healing he can bring!

Patricia Meye, M.Div., D.Min.