What is the meaning of Lamentations 3:21? Yet - In the flow of Lamentations 3 the writer has just cataloged crushing sorrow—“My soul continually remembers and is bowed down within me” (3:20). The single word “Yet” marks a decisive turn. - Scripture often records this same faith-pivot: “Though the fig tree does not bud… yet I will rejoice in the LORD” (Habakkuk 3:17-18); “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26). - The lesson is embedded: no circumstance is permitted the last word when God is in view. I call this to mind - Hope does not appear by accident; it is summoned by deliberate remembrance. • Psalm 77:11 models the process: “I will remember the works of the LORD; yes, I will remember Your wonders of old.” • Deuteronomy 8:2 urges Israel to “remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you,” showing that disciplined recollection is a safeguard against despair. • Philippians 4:8 directs believers to “dwell on whatever is true,” highlighting that our thought life is the battlefield where hope is won or lost. - The writer chooses to replay God’s character and past faithfulness rather than his own pain. and therefore - The phrase links cause to effect. Hope is not wishful thinking; it is the logical outcome of rehearsed truth. - Romans 10:17 explains the mechanism: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Exposure to God’s revealed word produces confident expectation. - Similarly, Psalm 119:50 testifies, “This is my comfort in affliction, that Your promise gives me life.” The promise contemplated leads straight to renewed vitality. I have hope - Biblical hope is a settled assurance grounded in God’s unchanging nature. It looks forward with certainty, not speculation. • Romans 5:5: “Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” • Hebrews 6:19: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and steadfast.” • 1 Peter 1:3 speaks of a “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” rooting our confidence in a historical, bodily event. - For the lamenting believer, hope rests not in altered circumstances but in the steadfast love and mercies that “are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23), immediately following our verse. summary The writer is surrounded by devastation, yet the single step of calling God’s faithfulness to mind produces a chain reaction: deliberate remembrance (“I call this to mind”) leads inevitably (“and therefore”) to renewed, unshakable confidence (“I have hope”). The passage teaches that hope flourishes whenever believers pivot from their pain to God’s proven character, trusting the unbreakable promises of His word. |
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