Remembering

I'm working on week 7 right now in my Bible study, Believing God, and today's lesson was about remembering. She taught about how when God remembers, He acts, which is evident throughout the Bible in various places. Then she taught about how when we are feeling down because of our situations we need to remember His faithfulness to us in the past, and choose to praise Him in spite of our feeling. Here's the passage from Lamentations that I read this morning:

"I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I hoped from the Lord." I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I remember them well, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet I call this 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."


I never think to read Lamentations, and yet I'm so glad it was in the lesson today, because I think the above verses (3:17-24) are key. When we are angry over our current situation, and disappointed that things are not prosperous and peaceful, there is a solution. Jeremiah (the writer) says to "call this to my mind", and to "say to myself". We need to remind ourselves of the Lord's great love, and how He has been faithful in the past, and that He has a portion for us which is greater than we can imagine. He has a future and hope for us, and a plan to prosper us, therefore, we choose to wait for Him.

I found this so helpful because so often my emotions get on a roll and I can't seem to stop them at all. I may know in my head that what I'm feeling is not right, but I feel powerless to quit feeling the emotion. But here there is hope. I can choose to call to mind how He's been faithful in the past, and remind myself of His faithfulness, and I need not be consumed with the emotion of all of it because of His great love. Does anyone else struggle with this? It's probably one my biggest aggravations this past year. There have been so many times that I know what is right, and what the right action is, and yet my emotions seem to steamroll me, leaving me powerless to act differently. I take consolation in 1 John 3:19-20, and suspect that I'm not the first child of God to struggle with this if the Lord chose to include this in His word:

"This then is...how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts and knows everything."

That phrase "set our hearts at rest" - it's so appealing to me. How much I would love to have a heart that is at rest in the presence of God! I believe from this verse that He knows those times when I feel overwhelmed by my feelings, and He's able to know my desire above what my heart chooses to feel. Lord that you would give us your power to rule our emotions and bring them under your authority.