Define Your Reality - Day 11

***This post was part of a Define Your Reality Devotional Series during the 30 Days of Prayer for Family Life Church in March of 2020. It was written by Robbie Ashlock.***

“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.’”                                               -Lamentations 3:19-25

How should we respond when hard times hit?  What can we do when the affliction of life seems too much to handle?  What will get us back to the feet of Jesus when we find ourselves wandering far from hope?  How can we lift up our eyes with hope; while, our soul is downcast within us?  We become so dependent on others that we forget that we too know what God has done for us.  There won’t always be that right person ready to give us the perfect advice.  Sometimes it’s up to us.  Sometimes we must preach to our self.

There comes a point in everyone’s life that they don’t need to hear from someone else.  Instead, they need to look deep into their own heart and see the presence of the Lord.  No one, other than God, knows our deepest feelings and struggles better than we do.  And there is no one who knows what we need more that He does.  And God is able to speak into our lives even through our own hearts.  Sometimes we have to be the one to remind ourselves of what Jesus has done for us.  Sometimes we have to physically, spiritually, and emotionally remind ourselves of the love of God.

The author of Lamentations, believed to be Jeremiah, had seen some pretty horrible things.  He was most likely in Jerusalem during its siege and destruction in 586 B.C. when the Babylonians burned and destroyed most of the city carrying off its survivors into exile.  In this part of Lamentations, he is remembering all the struggles and pain of the siege, but even in the darkest of times he still finds hope.

At the heaviest point of sorrow and pain he calls to mind and has hope in the fact that it is because of the Lord’s great love that we are not consumed; because, His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning and great is the faithfulness of the Lord.   The writer of Lamentations calls to mind that God is always in control and not just that, but He is a loving God who continuously showers compassion on us even when we can’t see it.  Every morning that we wake up is a new blessing given to us by God in which we can experience His faithfulness in a new way.

But just recalling this to mind isn’t enough.  He then says to himself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him.”  What if we began to proclaim the Word of the Lord?  To not just hear from others or think the thoughts, but to speak out loud into our own lives the truth that God is our everything.  That no matter what, we will wait on Him.

There are a lot of questions and unknowns going on in our world today. That is why it is so important that we return to what we do know. Let me share my go to verse with you today. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9.

I challenge you today to look at where you are in life and find a verse that you can specifically speak into your own life.  Be the voice that you need to hear.  Remind yourself of His great and never-ending faithfulness.  Sometimes you just gotta preach to yourself.  So, do it!  Be the voice that you so desperately need to hear.

Keep the Son in your eyes, Robbie