“And my soul is removed far off from peace, I forgot prosperity And I said: ‘My strength is perished, and mine expectation from the Lord. Remember mine affliction and mine anguish, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is bowed down within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.” Lamentations 3:17-21 JPS
I have given much attention to my capacity to respond to truth. This capacity, can we call it hunger? — is not self perpetuated, or self taught. It requires action on the part of God. So, in the writer’s hopeless state, he reflects on God’s coming initiations, they are sure to restore hope. In Psalm 42 the writer exclaims “hope thou in God,” as he instructs his own soul.
Micah the Prophet wrote these words, “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; though I am fallen, I shall arise; though I sit in darkness, the Lord is a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him;
- until He plead my cause,
- and execute judgment for me;
- He will bring me forth to the light,
- and I shall behold His righteousness.” Micah 7:8-9
Micah Is assured of God coming to him, even when be has sinned.
The Shepherd heart of God leaves the 99 and goes after the one, lost sheep. We can rest assured He is coming for us.
“There is a beautiful story which tells of song birds being brought over the sea. There were 36,000, mostly canaries. The sea was very calm when the ship first sailed, and the little birds were silent. They kept their little heads under their wings and not a note was heard. But the third day out at sea the ship struck a furious gale. The passengers were terrified. Children wept. Then a strange thing happened. As the tempest reached its height, the birds began to sing, first one, then another, until the 36,000 were singing as if their throats would burst. from “Springs in the valley.” Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman
So, hopeless, we hope. Caroline Leaf wrote the book, “Switch on Your Brain. She says:
“When a thought moves into the mind, various brain components flavor, enrich, and distribute the information all along the way. The brain gets into a state of expectation as preparation to build memories of the new, incoming information. Part of this activity is the movement of thoughts (existing memories linked in some way to the incoming information), moving from the non-conscious level to the conscious level. When These thoughts move into the conscious mind, we become aware of them. This means that when you bring a thought into consciousness, you also bring up the attached emotion. When the thoughts move into the conscious mind, we feel the emotions of the thought. Thoughts plus emotion equal (attitudes).” (my paraphrase)
Memories can plague a soul. Perhaps our experience with a certain situation or person has not been enjoyable. Our soul’s memories arise to handle the new situation or encounter, but the arising agitation sends us into a defensive posture. My capacity for response is hindered. If we follow this road of initiation for a time, a negative posture gains focus, and our soul can become cast-down in the development. Maybe this happens all the time.
But, be of good cheer, Paul spoke in the wake of a storm at sea, in Acts 27:22 “And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.” ” …be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.”
In The Philippian jail an earthquake arose, “But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. “Acts 16:28 His words brought hope.
Friends, our positive attitude and, self-talk, as, “hope thou in God” will not cause God to move. Nevertheless, rest assured, in our hopeless state God will surely come and deliver us. He is faithful to you. Love ya
