New Wineskins
Do you choose to hope in the midst of despair? Hope is a choice, never forget that. Life may have you on the ropes, and even those closest to you may advise you to throw in the towel, but hope remains forever (1 Corinthians 13:13).
In the midst of Jeremiah’s overwhelming despair at the destruction of not just his city of Jerusalem but of the lives tragically consumed by the horrors of war, Jeremiah still chooses to hope.
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:19-23
Jeremiah doesn’t deny his circumstances. He doesn’t wish them away. He simply chooses to shift his gaze from the brokenness around him to the beauty of his God, from the despair threatening to drown him to the divine power behind the universe, from the circumstances beyond his control to the Creator who is firmly in control. Jeremiah chose hope.
What do you choose? Where do you cast your eyes? Do your eyes blur at the mess of your life, or do you raise your gaze to the One who holds the world in his hands? What about your thoughts? Do you allow self-doubt, bitterness, rage, jealousy, and despair free reign in your mind, or do you turn your mind into a battlefield, taking every thought captive to Christ?
Hope and despair are not dependent upon the circumstances around us, no matter how dire they might seem. Both hope and despair are choices. You must choose how you live. Choose hope.
Prayer: God, may I cling to hope in the midst of despair. I choose to hope in you today. Amen.
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