Morning Devotionals
by Don Emmitte
 
April 29th, 2008

 

"The Restoration of Hope (Part 4)"
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I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.  So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord." 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. (Lamentations 3:18-23 NIV).

 

There is a second step in this path to hope: we must come to a firm decision that only God truly satisfies. In verse 24 Jeremiah says, "The Lord is my portion." It is a statement of absolute dependence upon God. He is saying that the Lord alone is enough. It is God who sustains and satisfies, even in the midst of deep disappointment. Belief that the Lord is our portion frees us to find satisfaction in Him and frees us from obsessively pursuing things we want Him to give us.

 

This passage challenges us to believe that relationship with God is more satisfying than the things of the world. This is a truth to which most of us quickly give mental assent. But when I look at my own life, I find that too often I simply do not believe it. I turn instead to the inferior things of the world in search of satisfaction.

 

David repeatedly attests in the psalms to the satisfaction he experienced in his relationship with God:

 

I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. (Psalm 63:4-5 NIV).

 

Jeremiah also discovered this crucial difference between hoping for something from God and hoping in Him. Jeremiah says a curious thing later in the chapter. He says that it is good to sit quietly and wait for the salvation of the Lord. Unlike Jeremiah, when I'm struggling to trust God and place my hope in Him, I often seek distraction from the clamoring voice of my unfulfilled hopes. Instead of facing my heart in faith, I seek something, anything, to kill the pain. Work, relationships, ministry, and entertainment usually make distraction an easy choice. But these distractions short-circuit the possibility of trusting God with my hopes. Rid yourself of anything that would draw your attention away from God. Get quiet before Him and you WILL hear him reassure you of a wonderful future!