Lamentations 3:19-26 [O Lord] remember [earnestly] my affliction and my misery, my wandering and my outcast state, the wormwood and the gall. My soul has them continually in remembrance and is bowed down within me. But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation: It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness. The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him. The Lord is good to those who wait hopefully and expectantly for Him, to those who seek Him [inquire of and for Him and require Him by right of necessity and on the authority of God’s word]. It is good that one should hope in and wait quietly for the salvation (the safety and ease) of the Lord.
Have you ever noticed how the enemy torments us with negative thoughts when we are most vulnerable? satan* loves to torment us with thoughts of fear, failure and frustration, when we are feeling weary, worn out and weak. I also notice that he will try these tactics in the dark of night or the wee hours of the morning. he loves to try to get us to start our day off with heaviness.
A couple of weeks ago, after a few months of dealing with the pain of some broken family relationships on my husband's side of the family, and the normal, but still not easy, bumps and bruises that come with ministry life, I had one of those kind of dark of night times. I woke up in the darkness with my mind under an onslaught of memories of every hurt and every failure of the past and tormenting fear about the future. I got up before the sunrise, begging God to deal with the heaviness and hopelessness these thoughts had brought on. Not being one who is given to turning to the book of Lamentations for comfort, I knew it was the Lord when I was directed to Lamentations chapter three. (Join me for the rest of this post on Sunday, April 8th, at Woman to Woman Ministries where each Sunday I share a bit of Sunday Soul Food!)
(*I choose to never capitalize satan's name or pronouns used for him while I always try to endeavor to capitalize all names referring to God. This is my small way of noting the truth that the enemy is a defeated foe and that God is always transcendent, in control and victorious over him.)
(*I choose to never capitalize satan's name or pronouns used for him while I always try to endeavor to capitalize all names referring to God. This is my small way of noting the truth that the enemy is a defeated foe and that God is always transcendent, in control and victorious over him.)
still following,
Elizabeth, this is one of my favorite verses for those times when I must remind myself to remember the goodness of our God in my life. I so appreciated reading this post. May you have a blessed Sunday!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing Jermiah and Lamentations as a reminder. As I age, I battle with old memories and the what ifs -that need to stay in the past. Your post was a need read. Lately, I have been telling satan that I live today, not back then and remind myself...it has been okay choices. Yours was a need to read this morning. Appreciate your words always.
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