We Remember!

In 597 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army besieged and captured Jerusalem. In obedience to God’s word, the prophet Jeremiah counselled patient submission to the Babylonians, but was branded a traitor and suffered for it. Nine years later King Zedekiah of Judah revolted by allying with the Egyptians, which led again to Jerusalem coming under attack by the Babylonians. In 586 BC, Jerusalem was destroyed and the forced exile of the Jews to Babylon began.
 
During this second Babylonian siege, which lasted 2 years (c. 588–586 BC), the inhabitants of Jerusalem suffered greatly. Some believe the Book of Lamentations was written by Jeremiah with the siege as its backdrop. According to Lamentations 2:20, food in the city became so scarce that some purportedly resorted to cannibalism to survive. Amid laments over this great tragedy wrought by Judah’s sin, we get this incredible declaration of faith and hope in Lamentations 3:17-26:
 
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. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
 
We are nowhere near the horrendous conditions the inhabitants of Jerusalem were faced with. But what we’ve been dealing with sure seems bad enough! What encouragement can we draw from Jeremiah’s statement?
 
When Times are Bad…
 
It doesn’t look like the COVID pandemic will be dissipating anytime soon. In Colorado Springs, schools that reopened for in-person classes now face the dire prospect of possibly closing again because of COVID outbreaks on their campuses. Christian ministries are not exempt; even Focus on the Family was recently declared as a COVID outbreak site. For us in ISI, uncertainty surrounding the state of international student ministry is compounded by personal challenges as our staff and their families wrestle with life in the age of the virus.   
 
On a personal note (as I shared in my last blog), the past couple of months have served up a few anxious and frustrating moments for me and my family – including trying to get our U.S. visas renewed while the American embassy in Singapore remained closed due to COVID; my wife Trina nearly dying from dengue shock syndrome in Singapore, while I stood by helplessly on the other side of the world; and trying to make our way back into the States with the U.S. presidential executive ban on visa holders still in effect.
 
Whatever our circumstances, we may be lamenting, as did Jeremiah in vv. 17-20: I’ve been deprived of peace! I’ve forgotten what the good times look and feel like! I don’t see any figs or grapes, the olive crop is failing, and our pens and stalls are empty of sheep and cattle (Habakkuk 3:17). Where, O God, is our splendor? What has become of our hope in You, O Lord? Our afflictions, the wandering, the bitterness, the gall – all of that is ever before us, and our soul is downcast within us. Lord Jesus, where oh where are You??
 
We Remember…
 
But Jeremiah didn’t stop there! He dug deep into the recesses of his memory bank and remembered something else besides his afflictions, bitterness, and gall; he drew upon the resources and treasures archived and stored in his heart that remind him of God’s character and His compassion for and commitment to His people. And here’s what Jeremiah came up with: 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 (vv. 21-23).
 
The work of remembering is a collective experience and discipline, as much as it is an individual one. The Home Office’s morning devotional and prayer times, including the Tuesday sessions where the Field Staff join in, have been the “threshing floor” where we travail in prayer for and with one another. And it is also there, among other platforms, where we remind one another to dig deep and call to mind God’s unfailing love for us and His great faithfulness to us; it is where we urge and spur each other to hope in Him and not give up.
 
What is it that you and I choose to remember during hard times? Do we think only of the bad stuff that threaten to consume us, if they haven’t already? Or do we also recall God’s goodness and promises, despite the circumstances in which we find ourselves?
 
And We Act!
 
Remembering God’s goodness is about as good as it gets, so long as we don’t do anything beyond that. But we want, we need, way more! We mustn’t just remember; we have to act upon that knowledge. I don’t mean we ought to jump right into frenetic activity – unless that’s what God asks of us.
 
In Jeremiah’s case, there wasn’t really much he could do. During the siege, he was confined in the courtyard of the guard, where King Zedekiah had imprisoned him for bearing news of the imminent fate of both the city and its king (Jeremiah 32:1-5). Yet it was his remembrance of God that strengthened Jeremiah’s resolve to trust in God and to wait for His deliverance: I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord (vv. 24-26).
 
In the midst of his trying circumstances, Jeremiah was determined to act by trusting God and to wait for His deliverance. What about us?
 
 
P.S. Many thanks, friends, for praying for and with us! Trina and Elisabeth have safely returned to Colorado Springs. We appreciate your continued prayers for Trina’s full recovery from her dengue encounter, which could take up to a few months.