Call to Mind
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“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.” Lamentations 3:21-23
What are your thoughts focused on today? What do you call to mind? Just prior to these verses in Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah had been thinking about all the troubles he had experienced in his life. He remembered being mocked, being deprived of peace, being afflicted, and the bitterness that resulted.
“Yet this I call to mind.”
Then, the whole tone of the passage changes because Jeremiah does a remarkable thing. He deliberately decides to summon up from his memory examples of God’s compassion and faithfulness to him.
Hope emerged in the midst of his predicament, sparked by God’s compassion. The light of God’s love shone into the darkness of Jeremiah’s situation. Remembering God’s faithfulness strengthened Jeremiah’s resolve to cling to Him in the middle of a difficult situation.
“Yet this I call to mind.”
We too can become intentional about recalling God’s faithfulness in our lives. Remember the time you thought you couldn’t bear one more day, but then God gave you the strength? Remember when God miraculously intervened providing the finances needed, healing that relationship, giving you a fresh start?
Although I don’t know the details of you life, I know that God is faithful. That is why I can say with confidence, as Jeremiah did, “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.”
I urge you to call this to mind today.
Faithful God, thank you for Your great love and compassion! Remind me of all the times You have faithfully provided all that I need and help me to fix my attention on You, so that I don’t give in to despair. Amen.
Questions: Why are our thoughts so important to our outlook? What examples of God’s faithfulness do you call to mind?
what a great reminder to call to mind all that God has done for us! To celebrate his faithfulness in our lives. As you said Richard, “A history of joy, remembered, is an avenue to celebrate the present.”
It is better to blunder in love, than to succeed at hate.
Learn to embrace hard work as a partner in your life’s journey.
Never waste you time chasing what God has promised to give.
First, peace comes from your house, then to your doorstep.
Your enemies never want to share your heavy heart.
Do your best and leave the rest.
Doing better than you have is the only progress you will ever make.
The past is not there for guilt or shame only for understanding and direction.
Forgiveness cleanses the past and provides seed for the future.
A history of joy, remembered, is an avenue to celebrate the present.