Text: Lamentations 3:1-33, Psalm 32:1-2
“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.’”
– Lamentations 3:17-18, ESV
“I have forgotten what happiness is…” It sounds so dramatic, but I’ve had those moments and I bet you have, too. Moments get honestly low. Times get impossibly tough. Not one of us is exempt from the reality of grief, and I don’t doubt that every one of us sitting down together today can call to mind a moment when our endurance has threatened to perish.
As we read the words in Lamentations 3, different moments in my life flash into memory. I’ve never been attacked by a bear or shot at with an arrow, but I can certainly recall seasons of “grinding my teeth on gravel”, as the Lamentor so vividly puts it.
Just the other day I sat down with my sister to talk about this passage and read it aloud with her, and after the second time through, something minor yet monumental stuck out to me. Do you see in verse 21—the moment the entire book of Lamentations climaxes—when the author’s sense of rejection by God shifts to confidence in Him? Pay attention to his words here:
“But this I call to mind.”
I missed it the first time and almost missed it the second, but it feels huge. The author of Lamentations (believed to be Jeremiah but no one knows for sure) doesn’t say, “But this is what I think is going to happen,” or even, “But this is what I wish would happen.” The turning point of Lamentations is not a moment of speculation.
No! He’s remembering something! Something he knows is true.
The Lamentor is calling to mind a truth he already knows, and it’s something that—in spite of the bears and arrows and rocks in his teeth—gives him a sure hope at the very moment his endurance is perishing:
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.”
– Lamentations 3:22-23, ESV
How does he know? What is this memory? Is it from his own personal life experience, or is he drawing from beyond his own life to his forefathers’ history with the Lord of Mercy?
Consider how David drew from the testimony of his people in Psalm 22:4:
“In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.”
I think sometimes we forget God is bigger than what we know of Him from personal experience. That’s why it’s so important to learn about God in history and keep our own relationships with God personal, but not private!
What if I found myself in a hopeless situation, but my only personal experience with God’s deliverance was that one time He helped me find my retainer in high school (yes, I wore a retainer in high school. ahem.), and the time our team miraculously won the volleyball state finals when we were down our best player? When I need to call to mind a steadfast love, I get to reach way farther back than 32 years!
The God and Creator of the universe has scripted an enormous and lovingly elaborate story of love and provision and salvation for His people. So, we, just like the Lamentor, get to “call to mind” the great deeds and marvelous rescues of our God over generations.
Your God who sits with you today, while you are afraid and dying and bitter with heavy chains and a crooked path? He’s the God who slayed a giant with a stone in a slingshot, rebuilt Jerusalem’s wall and delivered an entire nation from slavery. Same God—then and now.
So THIS we call to mind: God has a track record of faithfulness and mercy that reaches back millennia, far before and beyond us! It is a record that, time and again, points to this truth which turns the book of Lamentations on its head and allows us to return from the darkest night to a light of hope:
“Great is your faithfulness.”
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184 thoughts on "But This I Call To Mind"
I am going through a trail right now and these studies in Lamentations have helped me so much. Praise God❤
This is so good! Yes! Great is His faithfulness!
Raechel, your beautiful words have filled me with such comfort once again. I always feel a little guilty relating to these verses, no one is threatening my life, my children’s lives. I’m sitting at my very comfortable table drinking a nice hot coffee. Yet your words have gone straight to my core. Thank you for sharing your gift with us and the Fathers heart for us. Bless you.
I really needed this today. I’ve felt crappy for the past few days, but as C. S. Lewis put it, “while our feelings come and go, His love for us does not.”
Hello,
I have really fill enjoyed to visit the site. I am learning from the comments and moving words and passionate studies.
Thank you so much
Hi,I really need to remember for this morning.Your article is so good and amazing for me.I'm feel better to read this article.Thank you very much.
This is beautiful. After a sleepless night, the birds and dawn called me outside. Reading through the entire chapter then arriving at "they are new every morning" was incredible. And something I will remember when the hopelessness invades (which is rather often recently). May God be praised.
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I know that feeling, when God walls us in and we all we have left to look at is the destruction our sin has caused in our lives, and we can either turn away, or face it, knowing that we serve a God that is all about saving; that doesn't break us for sport.
I am obviously way behind, but that is not going to stop me from chiming in! I almost skimmed through the Lamentations portion of the readings this morning. Thank goodness I went back and read through it more thoroughly! I would have missed this crucial word God was trying to show me. No matter what situation I am in and no matter how sick and tired I feel, I can still have hope in God. SO incredible. Just the kind of boost I need this morning!
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Amen and amen! God is SO good and SO faithful. I have to say that this weekend I had one of those lowest of the low moments, where hope was lost from my heart and it didn't seem as if anything would get better. Unfortunately I've has many of these moments in the last few months. It's incredibly hard to keep coming back to hope. I feel sometimes as if God is saying, "You're not trying hard enough, so now I'm plunging you back to the depths of despair." I know that's not true, but it's incredibly hard to think otherwise in those moments……..!!
Yes raise up the Ebenezer!!! And what a great divide that Jesus reconciled. Rendered hopeless. Not knowing happiness. In darkness to being transferred to kingdom of light!! We are citizens of a new kingdom!
So good and so true!
Thank you Diana for your honesty and brokenness. You are sharing you most tender moments with us, and for this turning to Jesus, I thank you. We need SRT to call us together to pray, love and support each other through the Word and life. Prayers for sweet mercies for your family.
God is Good All the Time!
Thanks for the great post! Keep up the great work! blog
Love this!! Especially as I am holding a newborn! The nights are so long but He is with me now & He will get me through!
Absolutely amazing ! Thank you Jesus
YEESSSS! Love this! His mercies are new every morning! He is full of grace and love!
Loved loved this SO much. Struggling with PPD and needed these words today.
It is so hard! You are not alone. Get help if you need it! Will keep you in my prayers!
Thank you so much for this. Wow. God had me reading one day behind because I needed this today. My relationship with someone needs some healing. I’ve been bitter toward a sister and have pushed it aside, or felt like it is impossible for healing to come. But calling to my mind what God has done in the past, reconciling Jacob and Esau, reconciling Joseph and his brothers, and so many other healed relationships throughout the ages, this brings me hope.
This is my favorite SRT yet!!!
This is now another passage to add to my gratitude journal list! Another reason to keep writing down the gifts, graces, proofs of love and faithfulness!
Are you by chance doing the One Thousand Gifts devotional?
“I dare to hope” SO thankful for this study. I literally had to call this study and these verses to mind all day today. I also found an old article from Annie F. Downs on the idea of hope. Both today’s devo and Annie’s article beautifully reminded me that our hope in Jesus is what we have to call to mind. It’s the truth and reassurance of His faithfulness that gives us rest and strengthens our hope.
“Your God who sits with you today, while you are afraid and dying and bitter with heavy chains and a crooked path? He’s the God who slayed a giant with a stone in a slingshot, rebuilt Jerusalem’s wall and delivered an entire nation from slavery. Same God—then and now.” Wow that’s so powerful. I can’t stop reading that paragraph. We seem to forget just who God is sometimes. Thank you for reminding me and putting my troubled heart at ease.
Yes Tina! BUT GOD! No one of us are to much of a mess for God. I too have been in a black pit. (I wonder if satan is working over time? )
Keep pressing into His arms, even if you don’t FEEL LIKE IT.
This week I’m getting glimpses of light, and my heart is encouraged.
Be blessed, even a tiny bit of light drives out darkness.
The devotional reminds me of the story my mother has told me, many times, of when I was a baby. My health was very precarious the first 3 years of my life. I had trouble swallowing and I had seizures. My dad was working and so my mom was home with me and my big sister, who was about 3 years older than me. There were so many things my mom worried about. She worried that I would have a seizure in a crowded store and she wouldn't be able to get me help in time. She worried that she would have to rush me to the hospital and that there would be no one to watch my sister. And so forth.
And the lesson of the story is: none of these worries ever came true. There was always someone to watch my sister when she needed someone. My mom would just walk outside and there would be a neighbor who just happened to be passing by who was willing to help us. I never had a seizure in a crowded store. The hospital just happened to be 5 minutes away—my parents bought their house before I was born and never once thought about how close the hospital was when they were house-hunting. Our next-door neighbor just happened to be a retired pediatric nurse. My mom says that through all of these things, she felt that Someone was watching over us and was helping her carry this burden. So that's the "God of our fathers" (and mothers!) that I remember in hard times.
What a beautiful story of God’s provision and plan for us! Thank you for sharing your mother’s story.
Well, at first these verses stood out to me: “He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy. Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer … He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate” (3:7-8, 11). It’s been a really rough week/month/year/etc. So much despair, darkness, unbelief, hopelessness. Where to go? What to do? How to live? And why?? Trapped. Torn. Grief. Emptiness. Then I kept reading. And came to this: “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion’, says my soul, ‘Therefore I have hope in Him’. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him” (3:21-25). And I ask, is seeking God the answer? Can I? Have I? Should I? Is there hope? His loving kindness and compassion. His faithfulness. His mercy. For me? Would He even want me at this point?
I feel for you; I recently went through a season like that. Praying for you. Xx
Guys, this EXACT THING has been on my heart for over a month. Can anyone provide some more examples in scripture where God is faithful? More past experiences in the Bible to focus on and study? I have been looking for narratives telling that story, so I can dwell on God's past provision to His people. Suggestions? References? Thanks!
I needed this. Been a rough few years. Very difficult marriage issues. Married to a non believer who is blaming our current issues on my belief. There is hope. He has solved much larger issues than mine, and I know he will deliver me. Thank you Jesus.
Praying for you and your marriage Sara! I pray that your husband will come to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Please be strong and remember that all things are possible through Christ.
Thank you so much! I appreciate that!!!
I am right there with you Sara. Lifting you up to our Father! For me it seems as though my circumstances will never change but I will never stop praying for my husband. I have found that my relentless prayers, fasting, crying out to God on my knees, laying hands on him (unbeknownst to him) have had no effect on him but has been a great blessing to me… It has been a refiners fire, molding my heart to Jesus. He used to blame my faith for our problems too. God can open our husbands hearts to Jesus & set them free! I pray He does! Lots of love to you! You are not alone! I feel so very alone sometimes, especially when I take our daughter to church by myself. I so badly want her daddy to love Jesus! <3
Dear Jesus, please open our husbands hearts & let them hear Your voice calling them. Please reveal Your truth to them so they can be set free! Please let them choose You & live for you everyday. I pray that they would take us to church, read their Bibles & pray with us, go to bible study & fall in love with You! In Jesus' name amen.
Deuteronomy as God leads the Israelite nation :) God has been teaching so much about faithfulness as well!
I love to read the entire book of Job. It encourages me to be more faithful to God. Even though God allowed satan to test Job and take everything away from him, Job still loved God. Even though he struggled with understanding and questioning God as to why all this was happening to him, God rewarded him in the end. I mean, the man lost everything on earth that he loved but he was still faithful to God. Amazing!
Here’s just a few, I hope this helps! Abraham’s faith (Genesis 22:1-18). The life of Joseph (genesis 37-48). The book of Job. Saul tries to kill David (I Samuel 18:10- II Samuel 2:4). David’s own son tries to kill him ( II Samuel 15:13- II Samuel 19). Daniel’s friends saved from the furnace (Daniel 3) Daniel saves from the lions den (Daniel 6).
I was growing close to God last year. Then a family killed himself and now I’ve been angry, distant from Him. Feeling guilty and ashamed and pushing Him away. God tries help me and I fight kick scream. Run away and hide.
Man this is hard to acknowledge. That ever since the suicide last year (April) I’ve been sullen bitter and angry and fighting God with all I’ve got. Won’t even let Him love me.
Bless you for your honesty. Keep telling Him. He wants to heal those wounds.
I’m so sorry for your loss Angela. I lost my grandma to suicide and my dad to an accidental drowning all in one year. But I just want to encourage you that God doesn’t need your permission to love you. He does so regardless because He IS love. You can trust Him with your pain and anger and know that the Lord pursues you relentlessly.
While it seems trivial, we’re struggling with my sons diet- right now he’s dairy, gluten, soy, egg and nut free. Today was extremely frustrated. This just reminded to remember that God’s gonna walk with us and is with is. Thank you.
I needed this so bad today, study + all of these encouraging comments to glean from! Thank You Jesus! <3
Wow! This was so beautiful and so needed! Many thanks for this. I have no words!
The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my HOPE in Him
Whew!!! WHAT A WORD! AMEN! God is the same ALWAYS and ever faithful! Thank you for this word today!
Reading this just after crying out to God and wondering where He was. I had tears in my eyes feeling sorry for myself and the author and agreeing with his hard times. But as I read the Sutlej change took over he was no longer feeling sorry for himself and I couldn't feel sorry for him or me anymore. Thank you God your new mercies.
Auto correct I meant subtle.
This is a great post! We are told to remember, remember, remember… Deuteronomy 6:4-9… Always remembering, always teaching our children… Passover is given so that we will remember what God has done. So glad we have examples of His faithfulness beyond our personal experience :-) I like this a lot!!!
This just made me feel like God was wrapping His arms around me and saying “I’m with you.” It’s so comforting.
Bring to the fore front of my memory your faithfulness in my life Lord. Reveal to me in this devotion through your Word how big you are.
Today the Lord made the verse “and therefore I have hope” (Lam 3:21) stick out to me. In church yesterday we talked about how hope means resurrection because we find our hope in the resurrection of Christ. I find this verse, yet small, to be so beautiful in its placement. The author talking about destruction and grief and then stating that there is hope, perfectly mirrors our own struggles and this world. That in this world yes there are struggles and there is so much brokenness, but “I have hope” because Jesus Christ is resurrected and now I do not live for this broken and hurting world. Granted I am only 19 so I haven’t experienced many of the pains and trials that you lovely ladies have triumphed through, but know that “we have a hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19). May God bless your day and may you have hope.
In my study bible, Lamentations chapter 3 is appropriately called "Hope In the Midst of Affliction." I couldn't agree more with that title. These passages gave me so much hope this morning, specifically "For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though He brings grief, he will show compassion." (Lam 3:31-32) Some seasons in my life I feel so cast off from God that I don't think there's any getting back. Worse, I don't think he wants me back. But I'm reminded through today's message, & through this Lenten study, that His love never ceases, nor do His mercies. The current series in my church is focusing on the idea that God is always near. And I'm trying to remind myself of that everyday, especially while doing this study. He is always near! Even when we can't feel Him, His steadfast love surrounds us.
a principle that i heard in a bible study several years ago came to mind when reading the text and devotion for today:
God is not like me only bigger.
God is so much bigger. God's history is so much richer. God's faithfulness is so much stronger.
Praise Him that He is nothing like me or the box I try to keep Him in. Praise you Father for being bigger, better, and higher than any other! amen.
You know the cliche saying, "don't wallow" as if you can magically just turn your pain off. I am appreciative of books like Lamentations to read the raw and real human experience. It resonates with me. Christians often refer to their suffering and pain as a season or chapter which always gave me hope for an end to my own. But what I've discovered is the opposite, that pain and suffering is continual… It's becoming, it's a part of me and my story.
I use to live in fear and anxiety, the kind that kept me home for years. After reading Ann Voskamp's "One Thousand Gifts" I began to hear what God was saying to me. In return, I knew I had to respond to God. Since then I've become less afraid to express myself and more aware of God's voice. Of all my relationships, the one with The Lord is my most precious and I can say that truthfully! He never quits on me. From age 30 to 37 now, I've had tremendous pain and I went through something last year that was so heart breaking. But as I awoke each day, I would say "Lord your mercies are new everyday" and He never failed to show me mercy, never! It's encouraging and refreshing to be honest with God and not living in fear like we often resort to and today's reading is a great reminder!
I needed to hear this today.
Memories of God's deliverance…I feel like personal memories of God's deliverance are all around us. Maybe not daily or even monthly but still regular. Deliverance means being rescued or set free but can't blessings fall into that category too? Finding a spouse or developing a close friendship with a Godly person often puts you on a better path then you would have been. Or a landing a good job or improvements in a housing situation….healthy kids or kids making a turn in character for the best. Can't those all be seen as deliverance?
I was really struck by these verses in Lamentations 3:
“31 For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. 32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. 33 For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.”
I feel comfort knowing that no matter how far off I feel, He will not abandon me nor cast me off. At times I can get very caught up in what I think I deserve, and this leaves me feeling stuck. Hopeless. Despair.
Praying I can let go of guilt (when these feeling arise) and boldly take hold of His mercy and grace so much more often. That I can see the Good, the bittersweet good that God gives us – in all of life – more clearly and be full of gratitude.
I am having an off-day so far full of anxiety and sadness pertaining to my unsaved husband and not feeling "good enough". He likes "internet friends" sometimes and saving the long sob stories, I know now that not ONE person will ever satisfy or satiate a man's "wandering eye" if he has even the *slightest* seed of lust in his heart.
No presentations of the porn industry being a connection to human trafficking, the abuse of the actors, the drugs, the early death rates from suicide/drugs, the fact that is somebody's daughter, the risk of it being addictive, the comments of "If we have a daughter, then you should be TOTALLY fine with her being a porn star since it's such an amazing attribute to society that you're OK with!"….
Yeah.
I can fight.
I can scream.
I can threaten.
And though it may work for a bit…
None. Of. That. Matters.
Why? Because Husband is not a FOLLOWER OF JESUS.
And sex and lust…although mostly directed toward me…is still going to share the views of the world. If you do not share the devastating spiritual realities that you are committing adultery in your heart and mind when lusting after another naked body, then you aren't going to understand. He is not going to understand the devastation it does to the actors, the families of the actors, or OUR family and relationship.
Upon finding evidence here and there over the years, especially during my first pregnancy, God has changed my heart from wanting to leave….to just seeing that I need to GIVE IT TO HIM! I cast my cares and realize it is a sin between the **two of them**, because a relationship with God is YOUR relationship and personal accountability to Him.
This modern world sees sex/lust/porn as 'normal'…so it really, ultimately does NOT matter what my loving, hardworking, and "real"-woman-avoiding, " physically" loyal husband says…he will never be free from that seed of lust until the day God changes his view. He will only then see the 'normal' as ugly.
So after lots of days like today, God has given me an amazing ability to just cast it off the second an insecurity enters my head…because you cannot and WILL NOT ever be able to compete with lust.
But you CAN give it to God and refuse to give the enemy footholds in your heart.
He pursued YOU when He came as man to die on that cross and bleed out on Calvary.
That same power that was able to defeat death, sickness, and sin that day…will also allow me to remember God was victorious!!!
Jesus took all of that upon Himself so that I could still experience His Peace in the midst of feeling worthless because sin is and WILL ravaged my Husband's heart in LOTS of ways until he sees the beauty of that death and clings to it himself!!!
His mercies allow me to fight the enemy's spiritual darts of worthlessness and pity to be able to fight back and pray even harder for my marriage!
To be even more of an example of how God came in and saved me from drugs, suicide-contemplating, addictions…and made me into a new creature.
That same God who picked me up off the floor full of drugs while saying "I still LOVE you" and set my life on fire for Him that second on…(and made my barren womb fertile that day)…is the same God who will comfort me TODAY.
Abba Father.
You are new every morning…yet you are the beginning and the end.
You are the Healer of my heart.
I cling to You until these "feelings" subside and the words of Truth from this passage give Peace.
Amen Leah. What amazing redemptive things God has done in your life through the Holy Spirit that you get to cling to and call to mind in the struggles. My heart aches for you in your situation. Continue to speak truth, as you are. God is so good.
Thank you Emily. I do NOT know how I ever did it without that Good God. I actually almost didn't.
God laid this on my heart and I wrote this because I will read this for myself 22000 more times today.
Because someone is supposed to read this and He will use it.
Because this subject and devastation is rampant in all walks of life.
It is taboo with Christians..(along with the subject of sex/intimacy)…
It is even more taboo with a "Spiritually Single Mother" such as myself.
No one knows what to do with me. (And I saw and heard how churches talk about those Me's)
I fit in not one niche.
So I will be the Perfect Stranger putting my devastations out there because God will do that "beauty for ashes" thing that just proves His presence in my life and those witnessing it over and over.
I can let the enemy win by making me a broken mess on the floor and recoil from my marriage, or I can show my husband that I love him as imperfectly as he is because God loves us all. We have ALL fallen short of the kingdom of God.
I can choose to open up this mess and lay it out there because to move forward with the ministry God has put over my life when I was young, I HAVE to obey Him.
(To run from God's calling ruins lives.)
So to you, Oh Beautiful Daughter of The Creator of the Universe…
If this message is for YOU…
LET IT GO AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS.
You are beautiful.
You are loved.
You
Are
HIS!
Need this today as I deal with the loss of a close friendship and the confusing storm of feelings that brings. I have hope and life in this moment, in this day and week, because my God loves me with this everlasting relentless love that overpowers any grief and sadness that lingers. The same great love and mercy that he shows me time and again in my story, in my world and all throughout history. How great is our God!
I’m going through the same exact thing, and I’ll be praying for you.
I feel so tired today…not the lack of sleep kind of tired (that too) but I feel tired and hopeless inside. There is no specific reason for that, just many small things together. I have to focus on His faithfulness instead.
I have felt the same so many times myself. I pray you will feel better in days ahead, I have found even though I don’t think I’m physically tired some extra rest and relax relaxation never hurts. If the Sun is shining where you are take some time for yourself and soak up God’s glorious warmth.
Lenka, thank you for sharing your heart with us! Praying with and for you today, sister. Asking Him to be your hope and strength. Love to you!
xoxo-Kaitlin for SheReadsTruth
One aspect of this devotional that I find so important, for myself, is the necessity of living in biblical community. I am certain there will be times (and there has been times) that I will be so downcast that I can’t even begin to recall God’s good works towards me and others. In those moments I need my sisters and my brothers to remind me of the truth of God’s grace and to preach the Gospel to me. It’s so important to bear each others burdens like Paul tells us in Galatians. I think it’s awesome how usually when one of use is in a valley, God allows another to be on a mountain.
"They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." I don't know why but this really struck a chord with me this morning. It brought tears to my eyes and had me nodding my head in affirmation. My soul was crying "AMEN!" So thankful to serve a God that loves me so and will never give up on me, even in my darkest of times.
This reminds me and takes me back to when my husband left our family to be with another woman. it all ended in divorce and I felt like everyone had turned their backs on me. being a single, divorced woman in the church is a difficult road. their are no longer invitations to dinners, no longer invites to family events. I don’t know why but even though my church want there for me as a whole there were individuals who were and His mercies are new every morning. Thankfully the Lord restores the years the locust have taken away. I’m remarried to a Godly man whom I met in bible study. My single years are so precious to me. it was then I learned so much about our Father in heaven I learned to rely on Him instead of relying on man.
What an amazing story you have. Thank you for sharing it. And hallelujah that god restored!
Needed this today. Feeling hopeless forgotten worthless. Thankful for messages and scripture truths like this.
Lifting you up in prayer now, Katie! Love to you, sister!
xoxo-Kaitlin for SheReadsTruth
I have been learning his past week about the importance of waiting quietly before the Lord. So much of my time is spent talking or listening to music or really focussing on an assignment I’m working on. Twice in this passage, I am reminded of the importance of quiet.
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the Lord has laid it on him.
I think it’s in this state of a silent soul that He guides me in what to “call to mind”. He is Good!
Psalm 103:1-5 carries with it the same ring of "God is faithful and wonderful from everlasting to everlasting."
I'm new to SheReadsTruth, but I must testify that the Lord has worked many wonders and mercies in my life because of this website. I have loved reading the different posts and have come to understand a lot regarding my position in Christ. Today I found myself being a little more out of control and unable to "keep it together." My heart was sinking within me and my mind was going a number of different places – all negative – which translated into the relationships with my family. God is all. I've come to know THAT much about my God, though I'm still struggling to "endure." I praise the great God of the universe that I was able to read this today. It made me step back and get a little perspective. I'm off to pray now, praising the Lord for the way He works out even the most finite of details of my life (e.g., falling upon this post today). He's truly amazing and powerful. Thank you, Jesus.
I’m praying for you!
Hi friend! Welcome to our community! So glad you found us. Praying for you today, sister!
xoxo-Kaitlin for SheReadsTruth
My husband and I were just talking at breakfast about how we have to remind ourselves often of the character of God: his sovereignty and goodness, His self-existence and self-sufficiency. We have seen this character displayed very clearly so many times — in a big way just a few months ago — but still forget! It is a choice to "call to mind" who He is when things don't "feel" good, and to believe that He will continue to be who He is always. Otherwise, negative thoughts (worry, fear, anger, bitterness) are like a downward spiral that try to demand our full attention. It's like what Paul tells the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 10:5, "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." So thankful for this devotional today, and another reminder to choose to dwell on who God is rather than what life feels like at the moment.
Love this so much! But this I remember – HE has never dropped me and never will. I can rest safely in this today and always. TRULY GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS!!
Remembrance is such a hefty and hugely significant theme in the Bible. I love how you pointed it out to us in this verse. Yes! We shouls continually "call to mind" the faithfulness of our Lord! We tend to be such forgetful creatures, memorizing verses 22-24 has been key for me.
I feel like I've been struggling with these passages, which perhaps should be expected. They're uncomfortable. It's tough for me to see God as a God who will let little children starve and die in the streets in their mother's arms. What's to keep that from happening my me and my family if America continues to go downhill?? Surely there were people in Judah that were faithful to God (like Jeremiah)? What about them?
My kids are homeschooled, and we've been studying this time in their history lessons so I know that Babylon carried off most of the healthy, strong individuals and left the weak and young so perhaps that captivity spared many who still believed in God (like Daniel and his friends). I just can't help but think of the children that were left to survive or die.
It's tough, but like the verse Clair mentioned in a comment above (1 Cor. 1)… the foolishness of God is wiser than my wisdom and His weakness is stronger than my strength. I trust God, and I know He has his reasons. I understand that sin must be punished and that sometimes the innocent suffer along with the wicked. I understand that suffering refines and grows us… even if the suffering is by God and not satan. It's just tough.
Today's lesson is like a light shining in the darkness. I don't know where this lent study will lead, but it's definitely challenging and pushing me in my relationship with God. Thank you!
I tend to be a forgetter. It's a family joke at this point…"Was I even there? I don't remeber that!" I barely remember things that happened from my school days, friends I had, things I liked. I'm very good at blocking things out and moving on, I live so easily in the moment with my children, little people with immediate needs, that I forget small moments of God's love and mercy. I think this might be why it would be good for me to take up the habit and discipline of journaling…so I can physically look and remember with way God has carried me through. Because I forget.
This weekend has been incredibly painful and difficult, and I feel like I'm grinding my teeth on gravel. Our dearly loved senior pastor publicly confessed sin and resigned, which was a tremendous shock to start with, but the thought of their family leaving us leaves a deeper ache then words can express. I need to remember to recall to mind the incredible things the Lord has done this week.
This is beautiful. After a sleepless night, the birds and dawn called me outside. Reading through the entire chapter then arriving at "they are new every morning" was incredible. And something I will remember when the hopelessness invades (which is rather often recently). May God be praised.
Yes . . . A lifeline in the midst of hopelessness. A light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
I’m really struggling today.
Praying you will feel afresh His mercies that are new every morning…including this morning.
I am so sorry, Lauren. I am praying for YOU!
Lauren, I'm lifting you up in prayer right now, asking God to be an ever-present comfort and peace to you today. Love to you, friend!
xoxo-Kaitlin for SheReadsTruth
Oh Lauren…sorry to hear that..praying peace, wisdom and God's love over you, dear sister…He is near to all who call on Him…all who call on Him in truth…Call on Him, as you have to us…He is near…our God is never far from His children…xx
I have always loved the turning point of this passage too, because when we "call to mind" something we are using our head, not our heart. The lamenter FELT that all was lost, but his mind KNEW something different. This chapter reminds me that we can't let our emotions drive the train (something women are so prone to do.) We have to hitch our lives to the truth that we know — Christ lived, Christ crucified and resurrected for us.
AMEN!!
awesome Bethany!
love it!
“… hitch our lives to the truth we know.” Love this, Bethany! Thanks for sharing.
Amen and amen! God is SO good and SO faithful. I have to say that this weekend I had one of those lowest of the low moments, where hope was lost from my heart and it didn’t seem as if anything would get better. Unfortunately I’ve has many of these moments in the last few months. It’s incredibly hard to keep coming back to hope. I feel sometimes as if God is saying, “You’re not trying hard enough, so now I’m plunging you back to the depths of despair.” I know that’s not true, but it’s incredibly hard to think otherwise in those moments.
But today! Oh today God has breathed hope into my heart again. I needed the reminder and perspective that I can draw on the faithfulness of God from all generations, and not just my own personal experience. Sometimes I feel like the author in that my personal experiences are almost trivial, so to be able to know that the God who skated Goliath is the same One being faithful to me….it’s a game changer.
So right, God is the game changer Logan….prayerful that this relief you feel today, the hope you speak of resonates in a way that is uncontainable and that you feel the love of God over you so that you don't have to just remember He won't plunge you into the depths of despair, but that you feel with your core this truth! God is so faithful and when all seems lost, we can keep our eyes on Him….unchanging, unwavering, unfailing!!! ~ B
Oh my, i need this this morning. Im having a tough morning ladies,please keep,me in your prayers. It’s more health issues. Thank you so much,have so good day sisters. Xo
Praying for you Beth. Keep us updated.
praying!!!
Praying for you, sister. So much love to you, Beth.
xoxo-Kaitlin for SheReadsTruth
Dearest Beth, praying and will continue to do so…in the coming days…God be with and bless you…xxx
Beth you are daily on my heart and I am prayerful that God lightens your burdens … that He frees you of this pain and misery. I can't begin to imagine what you endure, but I am with you in thought and I am prayerful that you know you aren't walking this alone…. God is with you and I will remain, standing the gap with you. Love to you! ~ B
Let us raise our Ebaneezer, go back to the pile of stones that remind us of His faithfulness to us and His people!!! I needed this today. To me this devotion today is another evidence of His faithfulness to me.
We are all going to go through times of sorrow and pain– it's an unfortunate side effect of living in a fallen world. And one woman's sorrow may seem "easy" compared to what another woman may go through. But it doesn't mean any one woman is suffering any more or any less. My struggle with anxiety and fear and the time they stole from my family is no less a struggle than the woman struggling with any other illness and the time it takes from her family or the woman struggling with her job and the time it takes from her family. No matter the struggle, no matter the pain and its intensity, we can "call to mind" God's faithfulness. If we are blinded to the times in our own lives when God has faithfully delivered us, we can call to mind the times that He faithfully delivered others– stories in the Bible, stories we hear at church, stories we read online. Time and time again, God has proven Himself to be faithful and loving and merciful. And even when things don't turn out the way we think they should– He is still faithful and still working all things for good.
In my own life right now, we had a small personal debt payoff victory…only to turn around and have a hot water heater go kaput. I had myself quite a pity party and "why me" moment on Saturday. It was a refreshing reminder to open my Bible on Sunday, meditate on our weekly truth, and remind myself of God's faithfulness– which reminded me that if ever there were a time to have to replace your water heater, it's during the month when you get to skip a mortgage because of a recent home refinance. We'll have hot water again by the end of today. God reminded me of His faithfulness yet again.
Please pray for me as my marriage is crumbling, am trying to remember that there is hope but am faced with a hard decision. x
Praying for you. May God be close to you and show you His compassions and faithfulness.
Thank you x
Since I have been where you are ,I know how hopeless you feel! , stick with your convictions and pray,pray,pray! he does not answer overnite,so be patient !i will be praying for you!!
Thank you so much. I know God has great plans for me but it is so hard being lied to and broken over and over again x
Holy Spirit we ask for Your Breath of Life to be breathed into Andrea and her husbands marriage. Strengthen both of them when their hope has been shattered by the enemy of their souls. We command in the name of Yeshua for the enemies of deception and division to be destroyed in your lives. We apply the blood of healing, the blood that provides our every need, the blood that protects and the blood that reconciles and restores over your lives and over your marriage now in Yeshua’s name. Amen!
Thank you dee x
Being lied to and broken …. incredibly tough feelings to overcome… I know what you speak of, but more than the emotions in that unyielding sea, I know the Grace of a loving and merciful Father and He will honor His promises to you no matter what you're facing. I will be prayerful over you, your heart, your marriage …. that you feel God in the waiting and the crying….that you know He is there. Prayerful for your forward motion, whatever that may be. You are not alone sister! ~ B
This is so true…his compassion fails not. It seems like maybe I am forgotten but then once again GOD reminds me of his faithfulness. Why ever doubt Him? I am so glad that I know HIM.. because HIS faithfulness is so crazy real that if you don’t look over your life…you might miss every instance of HIS mercy and compassion.
Amen! Amen!
I needed to remember this this morning. Thank you for speaking this truth over me. Holding fast to God's promise of faithfulness.
Thanks for joining us this morning, Amelia! Praying for your day!
xoxo-Kaitlin for SheReadsTruth
Throughout my years I have wondered if God was truly there, but I have learned as Jeremiah says in Vs 25: "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him. Jeremiah saw a day when the Lord would reign in the midst of a restored people. I also find hope in Jesus when I hear him on the cross when he cried, "My God, my God why have you forsaken Me?" (Matt 27:46) Jesus understood this paradox between abandonment and hope because He also knew that He would be resurrected on the third day, opening the gate of eternal life for all of us who believe. The despair of that cross is now my hope of the gift of eternal life.
Gods grace and mercy lifts us from the hopelessness and despair that threatens to drown us, we need to keep our eyes fixed on him.
Thank you Raechel for your devotion today, it was a blessing.
Amen!
The "but this I call to mind" causes me to press in to God's Word. If I am not filling my mind and heart with His promises, His truth, His story, then I have nothing to draw from in the times of sorrow, pain, and sin. There are centuries upon centuries of the faithfulness and power of God recorded between In the beginning and Amen. There is no better way to know my God and His great love except to spend time in His word.
Psalm 119 is a love song for God's word. Verse 28, "My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word." Perhaps the Lamentator remembered this hymn as he sat in the dust. If hopelessness threatens you, turn to God's Word. If fear surpasses peace, turn to God's Word. If you struggle in the battle with your own flesh, turn to God's Word. There is nothing else that can meet that need. Nothing.
Amen Kelly!!
Thank you for this today Kelly! It's a continual reminder to me of how important it is to read, study, memorize, and meditate on God's word.
Amen!
Thank you Kelly!
Amen ..Kelly..great words and what truth..Thank you..big hug..x
This portion of Lamentations, although hard, is so good. It reminds of us so many precious things. We are not alone in our suffering, even earthly speaking. There are those who can understand our pains, our troubles because they have encountered trouble as well….we can find comfort in community, in relationship with others who endured because we've all suffered at some point and we can glean truth from each other.
Also hidden in Lamentations 3:28-30 (The Message) are profound little instructions to help us as we endure. Words that tell us exactly what we are to do. When we are all feeling like we've been used for target practice, left asking God "what are we to do next". I know those miserable moments, not knowing what direction to go, feeling like we can't make a solid decision, not knowing what God wants us to do. Well, He's given us the most basic, yet beautiful instructions below. Exactly what we are to do in all things. So easy, yet so weighty …. It's about what God will do, not us. We are to remain, pray and wait.
"When life is heavy and hard to take,
go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:
Wait for hope to appear.
Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.
The “worst” is never the worst."
Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face. The worst is never the worst. Those words invoke peace and fear simultaneously, but how comforting is it to know that we can bow in prayer and wait for hope to appear, because we are guaranteed hope, we are guaranteed God. HE is our assurance, He is our salvation, our security in all things, our victory. HIs merciful love never runs out, "His stockpiles of love are immense". ~ B
B – this really hit me this morning….Thank you!
Hope all is well your way Heather! ~ B
Thank you! I needed every word of that.
“It’s about what God will do, not us. We are to remain, pray and wait”
I know waiting isn't terribly easy, so these little instructions serve a great reminder for me too! ~ B
Thank you! These scriptures are tough, but I personally feel like I need to go through this study for that very reason. Your words are very encouraging today.
I agree…sometimes our discomfort provides insight to things we need to exam more, but I love that in that discomfort God always throws in some peace too! ~ B
Love this, B! I’ve been known to be a runner. If it’s too hard, too difficult, too overwhelming – in the past, maybe the all too recent past… – I would run, convincing myself God had something ‘better’ for me that was ‘easier’ and more full of good.
But then God began showing me that life is more bittersweet than just sweet. And the only thing that is sure, true, steadfast is Him. It’s Him in and through all the good and (!) the bad.
Thanks for sharing! “Remain. Pray. Wait.” Will keep this in mind next time I’m feeling even slightly antsy to run in another direction.
Love that Beverly! Makes me think to the prodigal story, he was a kind of runner too….but I love that in the end, the running was to God not away from. Prayerful that your feet and mine run that direction next time too! :) ~ B
Thank you for reminding us that the bible is OUR history, I have always thought of it as my guide, the Christian's history book. You have helped me realize this is MY history, every Christian's history that we can go to and remember what God has done & will continue to do.
I attended a Women's Conference at Shandon Baptist in Columbia, SC over the weekend. Delaine Blackwell's "Big Idea" from Friday night's session was God speaking to us, "You can't do it. I never said you could. I will do it. I always said I would."
I am so glad our Father is so much bigger than we are and that He gifted us to be able to say, "But this I call to mind,". I am thankful we can call to mind and go to Him with these remembrances and have hope that He will always do what He has said He will do.
When reading Lamentations the very last verse today, "for he does not afflict from his heart…" That wording spoke volumes to me. The heart of God does not cause afflictions. I'm hearing God's heart gives hope to our afflictions.
Thank you for this time of devotion and for all I am learning from the comments.
I love this, Beckie! Thank you for sharing your wisdom and encouragement.
(And I'm a USC grad, so Columbia, SC is my second home!)
xoxo-Kaitlin for SheReadsTruth
His legacy of faithfulness goes back to BEFORE He said “let there be light.” So very grateful for the opportunity to have the look into His dependability through His Word!
Praise the Lord God, Amen!
I need to remember this at work today, when I am tempted to be down and discouraged about all there is to do that I can never catch up on…”yet this I call to mind, and therefore 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!
Praying for your work day, Abby! Love to you!
xoxo-Kaitlin for SheReadsTruth
Oh Abby, three weeks on and I am in the same position as you today. "Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope" will be my prayer.
Wow! Wow! Wow! Amazing passage, wonderful thoughts pointing us toward TRUTH! I sat reading over the Lamentations passage thinking, "How, Lord? How on earth did the author just 'call to mind' and everything seemed ok, even though nothing had changed?" Because I don't know about anyone else, but when I'm in the midst of any trial slightly resembling what the Lamentor described in the first 20 verses, my heart is so sunk to the depths of despair that TRUTH evades me. I can recall something true, but it seems not to apply to me in that moment.
I think the point is, though, that it is not our ability to call TRUTH to mind. The knowledge and understanding has to be present to speak that TRUTH to ourselves, but the work and effect of God's TRUTH is God's alone. As I obediently dwell on and remind myself of what is true, even though my emotions don't reflect the knowledge, the longer I remember, the longer I deliberately call to mind, the more God changes my heart. First, a slightly hopeful thought. Then a sense of peace despite what I'm going through. Then a word of praise on my lips. And finally, even though nothing about my circumstances may have changed, and even though I may still wax and wane to a lesser degree between hopeless despair and conviction of TRUTH and faith, my confidence in the Creator God, the Sustainer God, the Fortress God, the Healer God, The Ever-With-Me God grows and grows and eventually pushes out the desperate depression altogether. Thank you, Father, for how you convict, how you show us our great need of you, and how you sustain us through the painful discipline that brings us back to you. In Jesus' Name.
"I think the point is, though, that it is not our ability to call TRUTH to mind. The knowledge and understanding has to be present to speak that TRUTH to ourselves, but the work and effect of God's TRUTH is God's alone."
Amen. Having the knowledge and understanding to speak truth to ourselves, YES.
I feel like that starts (a process I´m so aware that I´m in right now) with daily prayer for wisdom, reading wisdom books (Proverbs daily, namely), and just asking the spirit to make me sensitive to Him.
I´ve tried to be faithful in the little moments of feeling His nudge– write that email, confess this, etc. My prayer is to be obedient in the little things. If He chooses to use me for greater things, then I´ll pray for the grace to walk obediently in them.
Yes!!!
This is so true! Thank you for spelling it out so clearly like that. And thank you Lord for being so patient and faithful to remind us again, and again, and again, and again……
I’ve had a hard time with Lamentations because it is so dark, but what beauty to see the hope amidst the chaos today. That turning point is encouraging!
“Your God who sits with you today, while you are afraid and dying and bitter with heavy chains and a crooked path? He’s the God who slayed a giant with a stone in a slingshot, rebuilt Jerusalem’s wall and delivered an entire nation from slavery. Same God—then and now.”
It is humbling and reassuring to know I am a child of the same God who restored Israel thousands of years ago.
Anna, thank you for being honest about how difficult it can be to read through Lamentations. It gives everyone freedom to express the difficulty in reconciling the events that ensued. As you read, remember that prior to Lamentations is Jeremiah…where we read and remember that our God gave MANY opportunities to His people. He even gave them ways to escape the destruction, but they didn't listen.
Though He did have to destroy, it was in efforts to rebuild…hang with it…it is so humbling to see the path that the LORD provided to allow to sit face to face with him. Lamentations is part of the journey, it is not the end!
I too was having a hard time, but then I remembered today; this book has one if my favorite verses. Praise God for the whole Word, even the stuff I do not like.
Wonderful devotion today. I have to force myself to remember; all that God has done for me in the past, when I think I lost Him in the presence.
Well. It's happened again..I have lost all I wrote in response to today's devo…I started by saying last week was a lamentations 3 for me…from bad to worse…But God…oh But God…
But no matter, what comes to me that is Not of God…my God is a Faithful and awesome. God..He is my shield..my portion..THIS.. I will keep calling to mind….for always…
Amen..
Thank you, Rachel, beautifully written…
Sister's, sending out some love and hugs and praying your days are blessed…
Tina, I am so sorry to hear that you had such a week. I truly hope that this week proves to be one filled with peace and goodness, despite starting out with your lost post. Prayerful over you this week friend! ~ B
Praying for you this morning Tina…
Praying for you today, sweet Tina! Always thankful for your encouragement and your place in our community!
xoxo-Kaitlin for SheReadsTruth
Praying for you Tina. May the Lord wrap you in His arms and give you his shalom (peace). Shalom is peace is so much more in depth. Here is a link that describes it really well. Bless you sister. http://www.therefinersfire.org/meaning_of_shalom….
Only just seen this Tina but praying for you and this week ahead. may God pour out his blessings upon you x
I'm grateful for reflection Saturdays, because there is so much to digest in almost every post and Scripture reading. There is so much sin God reveals through these devotionals and studies that it's hard to keep with it all.
Verse 7 made me gasp, because I know that feeling, when God walls us in and we all we have left to look at is the destruction our sin has caused in our lives, and we can either turn away, or face it, knowing that we serve a God that is all about saving; that doesn't break us for sport. He breaks us and He's there to rebuild, if we choose to take Him up on it.
It never occurred to me that my family history with God goes way beyond the blood lines of genetic similarity. As a child of God, I have a legacy of faithfulness that goes back to before the beginning of time.
Sorry, hit the wrong button! Meant to be thumbs up!
Yes! Love this, Jenn! Hugs to you!
xoxo-Kaitlin for SheReadsTruth
I meant to like this comment and hit the wrong button because they are so tiny. Praise God for his faithfulness!!
I’ve been really struggling with the lamantations passages but over the weekend I renewed myself to God to come to shereadstruth with an open heart to hear what he had to say. I LOVED today’s study. It also fits in with the verse God gave me over the weekend to hold onto.
25For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (1 corinthians 1)
Why have I been struggling on my own when even at my strongest God’s strength is greater at his weakest!
This is so true!! With God everything is better!!
Love this verse, Claire! Thanks for sharing!
xoxo-Kaitlin for SheReadsTruth
I am facing a potentially difficult meeting in less than two hours time, yet right now I have been reminded that Gods love is steadfast and whatever happens he has already crafted my story. Thank you Lord that your mercies are new every morning and never run dry. I learnt a Sunday school chorus based on v22-23 and shall be singing that as I drive into work!! Thank you your words spoke deep into my heart just when the we needed most
praying for your meeting Kate @
Whatever happens in this meeting, I pray that the love and peace of Christ will guard your heart and mind and that through it all, come what may, you will be abundantly blessed and He magnificently glorified.
Prayers lifted Kate…
Praying for you Kate! Our God is right beside you, step by step, into that meeting!
Praying God's will this morn!
Sent a prayer up for you!
You are on my heart ,but you have already had your meeting. I pray it went well
Thank you so much for your prayers, God answered over and above my expectations. His love is steadfast even when I am plagued with doubts x
“But this I call to mind”. I have two roads, away from Christ or draw near Him. And I am grateful daily for Christ’s steadfast love, that I can freely run to Him and call Him to mind and heart in all situations. The good or not so good; nothing is to big for God. So thankful that Gods love is bigger than my years! Thank you for your moving words and passionate studies! May God bless you all for the work you do in His name.
Yes! 1 of 2 roads to choose…. A deliberate choice to turn our thoughts and remember His goodness… And to not allow our emotions to drive the process.
Amen! Just wrote your words in my journal!