Yet this I call to mind

Hope.

It is is a small word with a lot of meaning. We can hope it doesn’t rain; or we can hope that the new recipe we are trying will work ; or we can hope that someone will find a vaccine for this virus that is affecting our world.

We can hope in little or big ways both for things we have no control over, and those in which we have some.

It seems to me as a world we are in need of hope right now. We need to cling to the hope that we can beat this pandemic. We need hope that the many calls for change in our world around the issue of racism will bring change. And some of us just need daily hope, to get through the next day, the next hour, the next minute.

I love that the bible does not only include joyful passages. I love that there is a whole book of the bible devoted to expressing sorrow and pain, the book of Lamentations.

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.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
    therefore I will wait for him.”

Lamentations 3:19-24 New International Version (NIV)

In Lamentations 3, the writer expresses pain so vividly, but the turning point is the words, “Yet this I call to mind.”

That little word yet has so much power. We use it all the time with our girls when they tell us they can’t tie their laces or ride their bike, and we reply, “You can’t do it, yet, but you will be able to.”

Or when we are on our way to a family holiday and we get the familiar question, “Are we there?”, to which we reply, “No, not yet.”

And in the midst of his angst and his sorrow the writer of Lamentations, pours out all his emotions and hurts, and then he says, “Yet”. This powerful word that turns the passage around.

For yet signifies it is not the end of the story. Yet lets us know there is still more to come.

We all need yet. We would love to have a vaccine for Covid-19 but there isn’t one, yet. We would love the world to be equal for all people, but it isn’t, yet. And there are private more personal circumstances that need answers, or resolution, but there is none, yet.

Today I pray that this small word will bring some hope into whatever circumstances you are facing and that you can say with the writer of Lamentations, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.”

Peace be with you,

Jodie