LAMENTATIONS 3:16-24 – “He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD.” Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.””
THEME OF THE DAY: THE RESOLVED MIND. The Old Testament book of Lamentations contains a lot of emotion; very sad and moving emotion. Jeremiah, the prophet and author, is lamenting over the destruction of Jerusalem and the suffering of God’s people. The prophet personally feels the pain too. Take time soon and read the book. It is only five chapters long. We will feel the pain in Jeremiah, and we will also identify with him in our own struggles living the Christian life. Yet, Lamentations is not all darkness. There is glorious hope and light in the midst of deep spiritual darkness. Who has not found great comfort in the familiar text of chapter three, verses twenty-two and twenty-three; “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness?” What is important in these verses of comfort is contained in verse twenty-one; “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope.” Without applying verse twenty-one, we will not know the comfort and hope in the follow-on verses.
In the time of deep emotional and spiritual pain, Jeremiah feels abandoned by God, all alone, and without hope. But these are just feelings and raw emotions, and they are never to be relied upon as good guides and sound theologians. Should they be trusted, as Jeremiah did not, our spiritual lives will suffer. We will live without joy and peace, and be the poorest of testimonies for the power of the Gospel. To avoid such a spiritual experience, pay attention to what Jeremiah did. He models for us how to fight and win over difficult circumstances and emotions. He shows us where the walk of faith begins and stays.
Jeremiah engages his mind. He addresses his thinking – “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope.” Right thinking leads to right living. As we think, so we live. The only way to overcome living by emotion and circumstances is to have our mind renewed and stayed on the Word of God. Jeremiah stopped listening to his feelings and looking around at his gloomy circumstances. He basically said, Wait a minute. Why am I discouraged? I know better. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him.”
We must do the same. Commit to daily reading the scripture and go beyond to times of meditating on the scripture so as to renew our minds (Romans 12:1-2). The more God’s Word saturates our minds, the more effective we are in overcoming emotional and circumstantial living. Remember, the Christian life is in this order – mind, heart, will. And what conditions and shapes our mind will direct our hearts and wills.
PRAYER: “Father, help me to renew my mind with Your truth that enable me to live above emotions.”
QUOTE: “The Christian life begins with the mind; a mind under the control of God’s truth, not our emotions.”