HOPE AND REMEMBRANCE

By Janice Harley  

“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 (NIV)

When I think about hope, I’m sometimes overcome with excitement knowing and believing that something wonderful is going to happen. I don’t know when. I don’t know how. I just have a confident expectation deep in my soul that my heart’s desire, reflected by the prayers I have prayed a hundred and one times, is going to be answered. I can remember the goodness of the Lord in my life protecting me, providing for me, comforting me, and guiding me time after time.

In the Book of Lamentations, Jeremiah is at an all-time low. He was lamenting a tragedy entirely of Jerusalem’s making. He was in what looked like a hopeless situation. The people had turned against him, and it seemed that even God had deserted him. His cure for his hopelessness was remembering the good things God had done. He quit thinking about himself and began to recall who God is. Like Jeremiah, when we’re able to cease focusing on ourselves and set our thoughts on God, our mindset will be renewed.

There was a season in my life when I walked through what appeared to be a hopeless pursuit. For eight long years, I tried to conceive a baby. I longed for a baby. I prayed for a baby. I cried, begged, and pleaded for a baby: a son. I suffered one failed pregnancy after another—miscarriage after miscarriage. I lamented loss after loss. 

But during that time, I also had hope . . . hope that God would answer my prayers. Hope is a confident expectation. Hope is a peaceful assurance that something that hasn’t happened yet will indeed happened. I had hope because I was able to remember the goodness and faithfulness of my loving Father. 

Hope is a confident expectation that stems from faith. My faith was grounded in remembering my past, pondering the great faithfulness of God. Were there hard days? Yes! Were there days I wondered why everyone else around me was having babies except me? Yes! Yet, I had faith in a God whose compassions never fail, whose mercy is new every morning, and whose love for us knows no end. 

Without faith, there’s no hope. Because I had faith in His great love for me, I was able to not be consumed by my deeply broken heart! Because of hope and the remembrance of how kind, gracious, and powerful God is, I was able to persevere and not give up until I held my healthy newborn son in my arms. Oh, how He loves you and me. 

Pause and Reflect: Ponder the many ways God has shown you and your family His faithfulness.

Practice and Pray: Are you in need of some hope from the Lord? Read Lamentations 3:17-26, where you’ll find someone saddened by a desperate situation, but who placed his hope and trust in the Lord. Then spend time praying over your situation.