This I Recall to My Mind...

This I recall to my mind,

Therefore I have hope.

22 Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

23 They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul,

"Therefore I hope in Him!"

25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,

To the soul who seeks Him.

26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly

For the salvation of the LORD.—Lamentations 3:21-26

Father...I look back over the past 25 years and wonder how I would have gotten through them if You were not my hope‽. Every morning, every noon and every night I think what Jeremiah called to mind...Your compassions fail not...They are new every morning.  But, I missed the first part!  “Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed”.  I rarely bring that one to mind.  It is not as kind and as pleasant as the others, but it IS the very foundation of truly appreciating the other verses.  It is so needful to call this to mind in the midst of our day that maybe isn’t going exactly how we would have wanted it to go.  Jeremiah’s words in verse 22a give us perspective.  They remind us of what He has done for us and what our portion would have been had not Christ stepped into our darkness and became for us our light of life.   God is so faithful!   He makes His goodness follow us and covers our missteps with His mercy.  

When I sinned before coming to Christ, I had a fatalistic approach.  I have gone too far...there is no going back...no possibility of anything being okay again.  Since, I had no incentive to cut my losses, I spiraled...I sinned more and more.  I am so thankful that His grace and mercy are greater than my sin.  He provided a way of escape and a way back for me and for you through the death of His precious Son on the cross at Calvary.  I still at times, blow it big time but have never stopped being awestruck and so absolutely grateful when I remember that there is forgiveness with Him.  When I sin, I am still His. There is a way back.  There is Hope in Him.  

Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we mightfn have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.  This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.—Hebrews 6:17-20