What's your mind dwelling on?

The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

Lamentations 3:19‭-‬23 NLT
This is perhaps the most famous quote in Lamentations 3. We're reminded of God's faithfulness and His love that are new every morning! But there are so many other lessons to be drawn from this beautiful chapter in Scripture, and I've decided to share these lessons in three parts.
Today, I'd like for us to focus on verse 21: Yet I still dare hope when I remember this. These words were written during one of the darkest times in the prophet Jeremiah's life. It was a time of unspeakable suffering, where both him and his people had lost everything; their city, families, possessions and most importantly, their freedom. He felt as though God had led him into darkness, shutting out all light and turned His hand against him (Lam 3:2). He felt walled in to the extent that he couldn't escape (Lam 3:7) and utterly abandoned by God. Where is God in the darkness? Where is God in my darkness?
Beloved, you might be feeling walled in because of the lockdown caused by the pandemic. Or you might be feeling fearful and lonely because you don't know what's going to happen next. Are we ever going to get back to normal? You may wonder.
My brothers and sisters, we must realise that in the middle of our darkness, we can still dare to hope. We can call to mind what the Lord has done for us and dwell on what is true, pure, right, lovely and praiseworthy (Phil 4:8). We can choose to remember how God has been faithful to us and think upon it! He is always merciful. The love and mercy He gives never fails. What's on your mind, beloved?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The hard heart matter

And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. Ezekiel 36:26‭-‬27 NLT https://bible.com/bible/116/ezk.36.26-27.NLT Today, as we begin the start of a new week, it's a great opportunity for us to allow God to give His diagnosis on our hearts. What type of heart do you possess? A stony stubborn heart is difficult for anything to grow in. There's no way for a seed to germinate on a stone or rock. Similarly, a stony heart cannot receive the life of the Word of God. When Jesus walked the earth, He was saddened by the hardness of the people's hearts and couldn't do many miracles because of their unbelief (Mark 3:5, Isaiah 6:10). In fact, He encountered this problem on more than one occasion, frequently remarking even about His disciples' heart condition as being d
Read more

The Two Ways

Psalm 119:29-30 There are two ways described in this Psalm, the longest Psalm being the product of someone's prayer journal back in ancient Hebrew times. In this Psalm, two ways are being described for us: the way of falsehood and unfaithfulness, and the second way of truth and faithfulness. We are given a choice regarding which way we are going to walk down and there are many warnings in Proverbs about choosing to turn aside from the right path. In these two verses, we learn something significant about the Psalmist who is praying these words.  First, he asks God to remove from him the way of falsehood. He wants to be completely honest with God about his actions, his attitude and his emotions. It's easy to pretend that nothing is wrong when we are among people but God sees through our superficiality and He already knows what you need before you even think it. Not only is a believer given the power through the Holy Spirit to choose between these two paths (since the sinful natur
Read more