Jeremiah, in his Book known as Lamentations, proves the theorem I have just typed as our Lesson Title this morning.

Here are his words, as recorded by our King James Bible … “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.” (Lamentations 3:21)

What can I possibly just “remember” and consequently have “HOPE?”

Well, let’s look at the initial verb first … “recall to mind.” Yes, it’s one short clause in Hebrew too … “shub leb.” Literally it means “to turn” one’s “heart” to some point of view, to some conviction, to some precious belief! The verb is pointed to suggest … “I caused my mind (heart) to turn!”

NUDGE YOURSELF TOWARD THE WORD OF GOD!

Though the noun “leb” means “heart” 508 times in the Old Testament and “mind” only 12 times … the translators here felt led to use the minority expression! (In Old Testament culture, a man thought with his heart as well as his mind.) Proverbs 23:7 proves such … “For as he THINKETH in his heart, so is he.”

And by the way, we DO have control over our minds, hearts … what we think!

Today’s Verse really says, gloriously says … IF YOU THINK RIGHT, YOU WILL HOPE RIGHT!

Now let’s discuss the resulting condition, to thinking or recalling the right things. “THEREFORE I have hope!”

This verb, “yachal,” means “to trust, to lean upon, to wait expectantly,” as well as “to hope.” All these definitions are synonyms anyway.

But what is the “this” to which Jeremiah alludes? “THIS I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.”

I advance it is the WORD OF GOD!

My proof Verse …

One of Paul’s goals for the Roman Christians … “That we through patience and comfort of the SCRIPTURES might have HOPE.” Romans 15:4

Reading God’s Word seriously and meditatively might have more practical value than a trip to the Psychiatrist’s Office! Or the resultant trip to the pharmacy! (Unless there are other mitigating circumstances, of course.) HOPE is available from the Scriptures!

Oh, the very Scripture Jeremiah may have had in mind, that brought him such “hope” … immediately adjacent to his “I have hope” exclamation … “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I HOPE in him. The LORD is good unto them that WAIT (HOPE) for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both HOPE and quietly WAIT for the salvation of the LORD. “

Wow!

Add to that … Hallelujah!”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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