Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
Lamentations 3:21-23 NLT
When you are in the midst of a fast, it is easy to be reminded of all the things that you wish you hadn’t committed to abstain from. Fasting has a way of reminding us that we are crucifying our flesh, putting our desires to death, in hopes that we will be made more like Jesus.
The trouble is, we have to consciously decide that we want to be like Jesus. We could easily slip into complaining and bemoaning our time of difficulty, but this is not what Jesus did when He went to the cross; He was silent, as a lamb lead to slaughter.
So, how do we gain a fresh perspective when we are SO CLOSE to being done with this fast? All that many of us can think about at this point is the finish line, and what we want to do when we cross it.
In Lamentations, Jeremiah pours out his guts as he is heartbroken over what has come to not only Jeremiah, but all of Israel. There is this very unusual transition though, in Lamentations 3:21. Jeremiah spends the first 20 verses of this chapter Lamenting, sorrowful over all that he has experienced and seen, the destruction of his nation, and his own hardships as a prophet that no one wants to hear. In the middle of all the Lamenting though, he stops, and he says, “Yet I still dare to hope.”
What a powerful sentiment! We are in the home stretch of this fast, don’t lose heart! Instead, DARE TO HOPE! Why can Jeremiah change his attitude so quickly? He can because he remembers that God’s faithful love never ends; that His mercies are new every morning! Find the beauty, the majesty, the wonder, the love of God today, because it is fresh! And if you find it, you can dare to hope!
Grace.
Peace.
-m
Note: Tomorrow we will talk about building a post-fast plan for your life.
