Remembrance

so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.” Lamentations 3:18

Other translations say “My strength” instead of my endurance. The Scriptures before share of the destruction of Jerusalem and the utter turmoil that the writer either witnessed or experienced. His will to live was gone. He did not feel that he had the strength to go on. He had no hope left.

Yet despite how he was feeling, He chose to call some things to remembrance.

He called to mind God’s goodness, and that despite what they were facing, something good would come of it. Something good could come because God is good.

I think about the toughest times in my life and I know more than once my desire to keep going perished. I made attempts to take my life when I was younger. Yet, something, or I should say Someone, kept me going. I can look back now and see purpose in my pain. I can see God’s hand, even though I didn’t in the moment. It is easy to get so focused on our circumstance that we lose our strength. Our strength comes from God, and so when we turn our eyes off Him it is easier to lose our hope and will to endure in the moment.

Yet, just like the writer shows, it only takes turning our focus back to Him to build us back up. I have seen that in my own life. I see that in those God has given me the honor of serving and ministering too. It is a simple but powerful solution to life when circumstances are stacked against us. It doesn’t mean that the problems fade immediately. It only means He strengthens us to walk through them. The Israelites were able to endure and made it out of Babylon. We can too.

Prayer – Holy Spirit, thank You for strengthening me to endure through life’s toughest moments. Thank You for being there in and through it all, even when I felt like giving up. Bring this to remembrance when I need to endure in the future. I know I will face tough times again in the future, but I want to keep my eyes on God when they come and not be swayed by the circumstances.