I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. 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. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Lamentations 3:19-26 New International Version (NIV)
Memories are like a door in our minds that seems to open up at times we least expect them to. Sometimes all it takes is a color, a fragrance or a song to stir our thoughts and bring things back to remembrance. We remember times of joy and times of sadness. Sometimes recalling the sad times we have endured has a way of making us relive and actually feel the pain of what we went through back then. But God calls us to remember His constant presence and His faithfulness as we reflect on the past. We come to realize that we indeed survived those painful times. Whatever we may have experienced did not consume us. That gives us hope for our future. "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him . . ."
When we put our trust in God, we find we have new mercy every morning. Our never-sleeping, ever-watching, always-loving God has compassion upon us that never fails, even when we sometimes fail to remember this ourselves. In any circumstance, we can call to mind good thoughts ((Philippians 4:8) and restore our joy and hope as we wait on God. We can use our memories to remember His goodness.
With the Lord as our portion, we may stumble through the day and struggle through the night, but we must always remember that His mercy is new each day when He wakes us up. He gives us a new day full of hope as we wait on Him.
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