This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
Lamentations 3:21
"MEMORY is
frequently the bondslave of despondency.
--Despairing minds call to
remembrance every dark foreboding in the past, and dilate upon every
gloomy feature in the present; thus memory, clothed in sackcloth,
presents to the mind a cup of mingled gall and wormwood.
There is,
however, no necessity for this.
Wisdom can readily transform memory into an angel of comfort. That same recollection which in its left hand brings so many gloomy omens, may be trained to bear in its right a wealth of hopeful signs. She need not wear a crown of iron, she may encircle her brow with a fillet of gold, all spangled with stars.
Thus
it was in Jeremiah's experience: in the previous verse memory had
brought him to deep humiliation of soul: "My soul hath them still in
remembrance, and is humbled in me"; and now this same memory restored
him to life and comfort. "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I
hope."
Like a two-edged sword,
--his memory first killed his pride with
one edge,
--and then slew his despair with the other.
As a general
principle, if we would exercise our memories more wisely, we might, in
our very darkest distress, strike a match which would instantaneously
kindle the lamp of comfort.
Let us open the volume of recollection which is so richly
illuminated with memorials of mercy, and we shall soon be happy. Thus
memory may be, as ...when the Divine Comforter bends it to His service, it may be chief among
earthly comforters."
Charles Spurgeon
