I would see the words there on the page, smack dab in the middle of relating, all to well, to the lamenter’s cry in Lamentations 3.
Because the Lord, in His great kindness, knows when we’ve had enough, and when the swooping in of His hope-filled spirit is precisely what our weary heart needs to hear.
The writer, thought by many to be the prophet Jeremiah, gives us a hard read in the first 20 verses of Lamentations. And a read through can cause the anxiousness to rise in the heart of even the most well established Christ follower.
But then I see it on a Tuesday morning. The words I had read at least a dozen times in the course of my life… maybe more. The words that offer a solution to the puzzling circumstances that fill our days… “Yet, I still dare to hope!” (Lam 3:21)
I would say the words out loud as I typed them into my computer as prep for a Tuesday night live event I’d be speaking at that same evening. “THIS is a shift!”
And I would glance back at the calendar block that sits at my prayer table and notice the date… April 21.
Lamentations 21… April 21… Hope in the middle of the storm… A shift in the heart of the prophet… A shift in the heart of… me, too??
The word yet means this = nevertheless, though, “in spite of.”
The word dare means this = courage, boldness for something, a risk, hazard.
And so this could read, “In spite of all I see happening around me, I still take the risk to have hope!”
Jeremiah, here, is calling to his mind the faithfulness of the Lord. He is remembering and reflecting back to what He knows to true of his God, and we see it in the verses that lie just ahead, “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in Him!’”
My commentary say that we must be, “rich in remembrance.” I love this!
Because wasn't it just in verse 18 that we read of him lamenting that, “Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!”
And isn’t it what so many are saying now?
Everything I had hoped for is lost!
Everything I anticipated to be happening isn’t happening!
Everything I thought would turn out right has failed!
In our loneliness, and fear, and anxiety, our vision has blurred.
My commentary says that, “there comes a time in life when affliction must speak to us.”
And sometimes we must, in the middle of a crisis, give ourselves a pep talk - to remind ourselves that hope can be found for those clinging to Jesus.
“Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this…”
When we can look back and remember a better time through the lens of undeserving grace… we realize how small we are, and how big God is. How weak we are, YET how strong He is. How good He has been - when He never had to be.
I watched a story of a man who YouTubing his paragliding experience with his mom. As a trained and skilled para-glider, he knew very well what to do in keeping himself safe, but worried a bit about how he would maintain the safety for this mom - who was weaker in health and had aging knees. His main concern was “getting it right” and he said this, “I kept thinking, ‘how could this go right?’”
His focus wasn't in the failure that could result, the wrongs that could occur, or even the adversity they could be challenged with, he was, instead, considering all the ways that could go right.
Just like Jeremiah - he was yet, daring to hope.
And so I ask myself the hard question, too, how will I dare to hope?
How will I see the circumstances that threaten my peace and joy and respond with, “How could this go right?”
How can I use what's happening to:
1.) make me better
2.) bring honor and glory to God
Because it matters.
And if hope can be found in the midst of kingdom destruction, capital ruin, temple collapse and abominable carnage by the prophet who witnessed this all first hand, I can dare to hope in my uneasiness, un-comfortability, and setback.
Yet… I can and will DARE to hope!
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