Today, folks are being bombarded from all different directions with the speed and intensity of life burying many of us. The harder we try fixing our issues, the worse they seem to get. An accurate metaphor is the proverbial car stuck in mud wheels spinning frenetically without anything solid to get traction. Do you identify with this? You are not alone but if you are like me, my misery does not enjoy company!
The Old Testament Prophet, Jeremiah, found himself buried under the pile depressed with the sorry condition of Judea and Israel. He was very confused about what God seemed to be doing and was bitter towards Him. One of these frustrating times is reported in Lamentations 3. Jeremiah was buried with his fears, uncertainties, and doubts. Here is how he describes his condition: “affliction by the rod of the Lord’s wrath…walking in darkness rather than light…God has turned himself against me all day long…besieged and surrounded with bitterness and hardship…walled in so I cannot escape…even when I call out or cry for help, God shuts me out…I am the laughingstock of all my people…deprived of peace and prosperity…my splendor is gone and all that I have hope from the Lord.” He was not only mad and depressed with others, he was blaming God! Brothers and Sisters, can you relate?! Jeremiah needed relief. How about you?
Then, something happened in His spirit. “Yet, this I call to mind and therefore I have hope” (v. 21). Finally, after he got out of himself and his flesh, recognizing the source of the ugly thoughts coming out of his unconscious mind, the origin of negative, hurtful, harmful deceitful self-talk, and a liar being at the origins of it all, he took a fresh, sincere, honest, humble look at God. F-I-N-A-L-L-Y!!
Once Jeremiah refocuses his eyes, look at what happens in vv. 22-24. He meditates on his wonderful, personal, almighty God. “Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for Him.” “Call to mind” in verse 21, means to meditate on his wonderful God. What came “to mind”?
- “Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed”
- “his mercies never fail.”
- “They are new every morning”
- “Great is (the Lord’s) faithfulness.”
- Notice how his self-talk changes. “I say to myself…”
- “The Lord is my portion” which is more than what he needs.
- “Therefore, I will wait for Him.” Jeremiah goes to a safe, peaceful place as he reflects on His wonderful God.
Jeremiah got out of Himself and renewed His focus on the Lord, “the author and finisher of our faith” realizing the “hope” he had as a follower of Jehovah God. Isaiah 40:31 says this beautifully, “They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on eagles’ wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.” Hey brothers and sisters, get out of yourself falling for the devil’s temptations, lies and accusations. Count on God’s wonderful presence and consistency. “His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.”
Barnabas Man 